Chapter 9

After school was over, I walked around the town with my friends. My mind was some place far away when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Jumping with a startle, Rukia told me, "Sorry to startle you, but you weren't listening to what Kenny was asking."

I looked up Kenny as I told him, "Sorry for wandering off there, Kenny. What was your question again?"

"Where're you sleeping? I mean, we all found a place, except you," Kenny repeated.

"Um, let's just say I have two friends whom are letting me stay with them. Only problem I have at their place is Kon," I quickly told him.

"Kon? He's still alive?" my dad asked as he raised his eyebrows.

Nodding, I said, "Akira and Sakura Kurosawa."

Santona and Rikokou begged in unison, "Can one of us stay with you, mom? Please? We can't stand to be in the same room with each other for more than twelve hours!"

"Deal with it. The room right above Rikokou's room has room for only one person," I snapped at them. "And if you two can't stand to be in the same room for certain amount of time, then this is a good time for you to learn." When I looked over to Toushirou, I saw that he had some what of worried look on his face. I told the others, "You guys go on ahead. Toushirou and I will find you later."

Rangiku asked, "You sure, Captain Kurosaki?"

"Yes. I'm sure. By the looks on your captain's face, he's worried about something, apparantly," I told her. "And if I know him well enough, I know that he won't talk about this kind of problems with anyone except me and Assistant Captain Hinamori." When they all walked off, Renji looking doubtful about leaving us alone, I asked Toushirou, "Tell me all the b.s., Toushirou. What's wrong?"

Toushirou frowned as he responded, "I get this feeling that something's not right. I mean, in the Soul Society. I'm leaning towards the fifth company about one of the divisions having trouble of some sort. On top of that, the problem is quite bad. At least, that's what I'm sensing."

"If there is a problem, I'm leaning on Ichimaru," I told him with a shudder. "Never trusted him from the beginning. I mean, there's something about the way he smiles that makes him look untrustworthy. Know what I mean?"

Toushirou nodded in agreement as he said, "Yeah. I know exactly what you mean. After he pulled the stunt of Aizen's fake death with Aizen himself, no one trusted him. But some how, he managed to gain half of the respect back that who knows what he could've done."

Akira's voice asked, "What are you two doing here?"

Our head snapped towards where he voice came from and I quickly said, "Akira, meet Toushirou Hitsugaya, Captain of the Tenth Company."

Akira nodded slightly at him and asked, "Where's the others?"

"I told them to go ahead without us for now," I told her. "Toushirou was getting a little freaked out about what might have happened back in Soul Society." We heard Santona's scream and I quickly said, "Toushirou! Let's go! That was Santona screaming, man!" As we started to run as fast as we could in our gigai, I called to Akira, "See you tomorrow, Akira!"

When we arrived at the location where Santona's scream came from, we saw the boys in the class that I was in beating her up while few others were getting tied up tightly. Toushirou's voice cried out, "Kurosaki! Watch your back!"

When I turned to look at him, few of the boys grabbed him already and was starting to tie him up. Anger started to rise as I screeched, "No one messes with my friends and gets away with it, you punks!"

I beat up Knei-Gong first before I went through his pockets to look for a cellphone. Rest of the gang yelled at me, "What are you doing?"

When I found a cellphone in his pocket, it looked more updated. I pressed the number for hospital and when a hologram of an operator appeared above the screen, I asked, "Can I get several ambulances several streets down from the high school? There are a group of punks getting ready to beat up my friends and considering I'm the only one that's not tied, I'll have to beat them up myself. In other words, I have to fight for my friends' lives and I'll need the amublances for ... . Let's see. Fifteen kids regularly in the class, minus the shy looking kid and Akira and Sakura. So that'll be ambulances for twelve males, one of them who's already down."

"Ambulances will be right over," the operator replied. "It'll be at least ten minutes before they get there."

As I hung up, I said, "Great, because that's all the time that I need." I quickly kicked the guys who was holding onto Toushirou to free him from their grip. Once he was free, I quickly told him, "Untie the others while I fight off these guys to buy you some time." Toushirou quickly nodded and did as I asked him to.

Ikkaku and Renji ran by my side and asked, "You need any help?"

I told them, "Ikkaku, stay if you want, considering I know how much you love to fight. Renji, leave with Santona and Rikokou. If I get beat up badly here along with you, there'll be no one to look after those two and lead the 12th company. Tell Kenny to go along with you. He'll be a big help if Ikkaku and I get beat up badly here today." On Renji's side, I saw a guy jumping on him and tried to stab him with a knife. I pushed Renji out of the way and quickly reacted by kicking the knife out of the hand. As I punched the boy in the stomach, I yelled, "What did I say about anyone getting caught when they try to attack first if I catch them? I'll refresh your memory if you forgot! I beat them up first, boy!"

Renji quickly grabbed Rikokou and Santona as cried out, "This fight is in both of your hands! Be careful, Ikkaku! Ichisan!"

Toushirou and Rangiku looked at me questioningly as Kenny and Yachiru ran with Renji, Rikokou and Santona. Kenny stopped for a moment as he yelled, "C'mon! Ikkaku will have her covered! With him around, she won't have any problems! Trust me! I know this guy and he's kind of a retard from time to time, but he knows what he's doing with the head of the group around!"

Toushirou called to me, "Good luck, then, Kurosaki! I do hope you still remember how to fight as well as you used to!" He looked over to his assistant as he snapped, "Let's go, Matsumoto! We'll just leave this to Kurosaki and Ikkaku!"

When they ran off, I asked Ikkaku without looking at him, "You ready, Ikkaku?"

He quickly responded, "Yeah. I'm always ready to fight."

I looked around at the punks that was surrounding us as I told him, "Good, because all of them have the expression that's asking same question."

"What?"

"Who does this Baldy think he is?" Ikkaku started to scream his head off as he charged foward and I warned the kids, "Better watch out, kids!"

When they started to laugh, I threw Ikkaku's wooden sword to him and he started to beat them up with it. It wasn't sharp, which was what I expected, but it was hard enough to knock half of them down unconcious. I beat up the rest, all except one. Just as Renji came back running from where he ran off, the last kid took out his pocket knife and stabbed me right in the side without warning. Renji stopped in middle of his tracks and looked horrified and shocked at the same time.

Smiling weakly at him, I gasped, "Hey, Renji! You came back for what reason?"

When I fell on my knees, I heard Ikkaku sharply turn around and cry, "Captain Kurosaki!"

I didn't see this coming, but I felt sharp pain in my back and I screamed as though my back was being ripped open. I stopped when I felt the knife out of my back and I fell foward. I felt Renji's hands catching me as he told me in a panic, "Ichisan! It's going to be okay!"

I leaned against his shoulder and I heard Sakura's voice yell, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Yakiru? Aren't you a friend of my twin?"

"Of course I am, you idiot! That's why I'm attacking this girl and her friends!" the boy who stabbed me yelled back.

Sakura answered angrily, "You'll pay for what you did to Akira's new friends, punk! You may be one of her friends, but I'll risk my social status with her even if it means losing it by beating you up for this girl!"

Renji's grip got a little tighter on my shoulders as he sneered, "Sakura! Stay out of this! She's what you would call my girlfriend! Anyone who hurts Ichisan dies in my hands!"

I grabbed onto Renji's arm as best as I could as I gasped at him quietly, "Renji! No! Get my dad instead for me! He has more experience in fighting normal people! I don't want to risk your life because of me!"

Renji helped me up and handed me over to Ikkaku as he ordered, "Hold onto her for me." When I coughed, I tasted blood in my mouth and I had to spit some out.

"You want to fight, then fine!" the boy named Yakiru yelled.

I saw him charging towards Renji with the knife foward but Renji did something I couldn't imagine him doing at the very last second. Renji grabbed Yakiru's wrist that held the pocketknife at the very last second and pried the knife away. As Renji threw it aside, he snapped, "You have the disadvantage now, kid."

Renji twisted Yariku's arm and I heard a loud crack and Yariku fell onto his knees as he screamed, "Mercy! Show me some mercy, won't you? You broke my arm!"

Renji let go of him and warned him saying, "I'll let you go this time, but next time you do that to Ichisan, trust me when I say this. I will kill you." Renji came over to me and Ikkaku and he picked me up in his arms as he quietly told Ikkaku, "I'll take her to Urahara's place. You worry about yourself and find a place to sleep, won't you?"

I gasped for breath all the way and by the time we arrived at Mr. Hats-And-Clogs' place, I had already lost a lot of blood. Renji lay me down in a room as he ordered Urahara, "Get Orihime for me."

"But - ," Mr. Hats-And-Clogs started to say but he was interrupted.

Renji yelled, "I told you to get Orihime for me! My wife's dying here!" As Mr. Hats-And-Clogs ran off, I saw tears forming in Renji's eyes as he quietly begged, "Don't leave me, Ichisan."

Orihime came running in not too long later as she quickly told Renji, "Give me some room, Renji-kun! I need some space in order to heal her!" The last thing I heard was Orhime muttering, "I reject." With just that, everything went black.