Guardian Angel II

War if the Seven Sins

Chapter 10

I Wait for the Dawn

Disclaimer: Bleach...why is it not mine?

Figures, the second I make a threat to not write until I get reviews, Human.Vizard comes riding in on a white stallion and shoots off two reviews, then isn't heard from again. Ah well, such is life.

I'll get this out of the way right now; this is not a good chapter, it really isn't. This is, if anything, just a filler chapter that leads into the the actual cool stuff. The good news is, if you're so brave as to sit through this, the next few chapters will make up for it.

We'll be entering a (get ready for this) four part mini-arc, a huge battle involving almost every other Bleach character I haven't touched upon yet (Renji, Byakuya, Zaraki, various other captains and lieutenants, etc.) plus the final battle between Matt/Ira and Astaroth. We're in for a good five or six action packed chapters, plus the epilogue of course.

All that amounts to about two weeks worth at most, so I'll be deciding in the next few days if I want to continue this in a third installment, or if I'm going to close the story forever. Again, I'd like your opinion on whether or not to make a third Guardian Angel story. If you guys want me to, I gladly will, but unless you speak up, I'll probably be discontinuing the story.

With a grunt, Matt woke up and rolled over on his bed. It was still pretty early in the morning, but he had to prepare what he was going to say to the others about Ira. He was probably going to show up again later in the day, so he had to gather everyone up while he could. He sat up, stretched, and yawned. He looked over to his right and saw Koshino still asleep on the floor next to his bed. She was curled up into a ball under her sheet with a small smile on her face.

He laughed quietly and threw his blanket over her. She unconsciously grasped it and continued her slumber. Matt walked out off his room and walked down the hallway until he entered the kitchen were his gigia, under the influence of an artificial soul, was rummaging through his fridge. He heard him walk in and looked up.

He was already dressed for the most part. He had a pair of old jeans on, some socks, and a white undershirt.

"Hey boss, just grabbing some food," he said casually.

"No need, I'll be jumping back in for a little while," he said.

The gigai shrugged and stood still as Matt approached. He felt himself meld back in with the body. Once he was finally inside, he coughed up the pill that held the soul –a process he detested- and stuck it in his pocket. He shook around his limbs to regains some feeling, gigai were so constraining. He couldn't remember how he ever stayed sane back when he was alive, being trapped in that body all the time.

Ignoring the minor discomfort, he returned to what his gigai had been doing before him, rummaging though the fridge for some breakfast. He pulled out four frozen waffles and put them in the toaster. While they were cooking, he grabbed the syrup from the cupboard and took out a pair of forks and knives. Just as he finished grabbing the plates, the toaster popped out the four waffles.

He divided them into two separate groups on their individual plates. After pouring both of them with syrup, he carried them back to his room. Koshino was still, obviously, asleep. Matt placed the plates on his desk and kneeled down next to her, and lightly tickled her nose.

Her hands came up to knock his away every time, but they never hit them. He laughed to himself as he bugged her in her sleep. After a while she shot upward suddenly and almost hit Matt in the face, luckily he was able to move out of the way.

"I'm awake!" she shouted.

"Heh, well it's good to hear, but shouting wasn't really necessary," he teased.

She shook her head and joined the rest of reality. "Oh, good morning," she said, a little embarrassed.

"Mornin', sleep well?"

She nodded happily.

"Good, I made us some breakfast," he said, hopping over her and grabbing the two plates on his desk.

"Waffles; are these the only thing you ever eat for breakfast?" she teased back.

"Pretty much."

He plopped down next to her on the floor and dug right into his breakfast. He felt Koshino lean on his shoulder, and smiled to himself. He found it almost hilarious how one night had eliminated almost all awkwardness between the two of them. Now that he looked back on it, he wasn't even sure why the both of them were so shy around each other. He guessed they both just needed some sort of definite clarification, and they got their wish.

Despite all that was happening, and had yet to happen, this was probably the best he'd felt since first becoming a Soul Reaper. Now that he thought about it though, he did have someone to thank.

'Hey…Gabriel.'

"Yes Matt?"

'I guess I owe you one for pushing me. I needed the extra nudge.'

"It's what I do."

'Yeah well, thanks.'

Matt finished his breakfast without even realizing he was actually done, and took Koshino's plate when she was done as well. They both walked down the hallway, back into the kitchen. Matt put the plates in the sink and Koshino leaned against the table.

"So, do you know when everyone will be here?" he asked.

"As far as I know, everyone should be coming straight back here today."

He nodded and dried his hands with a stray towel. He smirked when an idea formed in his head, he had to restrain himself from laughing.

"Well ya know, we've got some time to kill," he said.

"I guess we do."

He was slowly sneaking up on her, as her back was currently turned to him and he had to keep from laughing again. Just as she was about to turn to him again, he wrapped his arms around her waist and began furiously tickling her. Almost immediately she burst out laughing and tried in vain to pull away. Meanwhile, Matt was laughing manically as he tortured the poor girl.

"MATT! M-MATT! QUIT IT, I'M T-TICKLISH!" she laughed.

"NEVER!" he shouted back.

The two of them stumbled across Matt's living room; Koshino trying to break Matt's iron grip, and Matt just trying to hang on as she's thrashed around. All the while they were having a blast. It surprised them both when Matt stepped in front of Koshino's foot, sending the both of them tumbling to the ground. Matt gave up trying to attack her further and they were content with just laying on the floor laughing their heads off like a pair of idiots.

"Ah...ah, that was fun, but don't ever do that again," she said, slapping his arm. Matt rolled onto his side and landed a quick kiss on her cheek, all the while still laughing to himself. Their fun was interrupted though, when they heard the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat above them.

They both looked up. Staring back down at them was Holly, who had one eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip.

"Alright you two...what did I miss?"

After a few minutes of embarrassed babbling from both Matt and Koshino, they both accepted the fact that Holly wouldn't buy into any excuses they made. She promised she wouldn't say anything, but also stated that it was pretty obvious to everyone already, and that she and Nathan had actually joked about it quite a lot when they weren't around. That fact only served to piss off Matt and further embarrass Koshino more than she already was.

"Don't worry guys, I know it's not my place to tell. Though you could try and make it less obvious."

"Was it really that out there?" asked Matt.

"Things are always easier to see when you're looking from the outside in, plus I'm your best friend, it's my job to know this stuff before you do," she said, poking his forehead all the while.

"Yeah, yeah," he groaned, shooing her hand away.

He suddenly heard a knock at his front door, and sensed three distinct spiritual pressures on the other side. Uryu, Chad, and Grimmjow were here. That only left Ichigo, Nathan, and Toshiro, then the gang would all be here. He wasn't exactly looking forward to explaining this whole situation to them, especially the part with Ira getting involved. Matt unlocked the door and swung it open, and there stood the trio.

"Hey guys, come on in. Now that you're here, all we're waiting on is Ichigo, Nathan, and Frosty."

"Cool, I hate waiting," said Grimmjow, heading straight for his fridge.

"Hey, you could've at least waited until if offered you food! Barging into someones house and helping yourself to their food is disrespectful in America to ya asshole!"

Grimmjow chuckled. "Well if you were gonna offer me some anyway, as far as I'm concerned, I just saved time by cutting out the middleman."

At this point Matt was fuming, he had a vein throbbing in his forehead like when Toshiro was pissed off, and was ready to jump on the arrancar and strangle him. It wouldn't have done much, considering neither arrancer nor Soul Reapers had to breathe, but it was still tempting.

After grabbed the said arrancar by his collar, he dragged him into his living room after Uryu and Chad.

"So, what exactly is our next move? I seriously doubt we'll be getting help from the Soul Society, and we don't have any leads as far as I know," said Uryu.

"I do, and as soon as everyone gets here, I'll let you all in on it," said Matt, taking a seat next to Koshino.

"So what the hell are we gonna do 'till then!?" yelled Grimmjow.

"Wait," Matt shot back sternly.

The group did just that, they waited. Grimmjow flipped through the TV, Uryu explored his parents book collection, Chad was...being Chad, Holly was reading a magazine, and Koshino fell asleep. She didn't get much sleep the night before, seeing Ira again shook her up worse than he thought, though she tried to hide it. She was snoozing softly on his shoulder, and he laughed in his mind at how a situation like this would have gotten him so worked up just a few days ago, but now that he and her had everything out in the open between them, it almost felt natural.

He guess that what Holly said was true, everyone did seem to already know, because no one seemed to find it odd at all. Not even when he had his arm around her shoulder stroking her hair as she slept. If anything, it seemed to lift everyone's mood.

He'd gotten so comfortable though, that he almost didn't feel Ichigo, Nathan, and Toshiro's spiritual pressures. Though it confused him when he felt a fourth pressure with them, which confused him. He got up slowly so not to wake up Koshino, and set her down lightly on the cushion. He opened the front door just as the bell rang.

On the other side was his orange hair teacher, his red headed best friend, and the silver haired captain. The fourth member of their little party had yet to be revealed when suddenly a black haired, violet eyed blur shot out between Nathan and Ichigo. In a matter of seconds Matt was being crushed under the strong arms of Rukia Kuchiki.

"Matt, it's great to see you again!" she said happily.

"Why...do you insist...on c-crushing me," he wheezed.

She pulled away from him, allowing him to breathe deeply. "Oh, don't be such a wimp."

The four of them moved into his house as he leaned against the wall trying to regain his composure. After a quick session of recuperation, he joined them all back in the living room.

Uryu was the first to speak. "So Matt, you said you had a new lead?"

He nodded.

"Well...lay it on us," said Ichigo.

He sighed. "Alright, but this is gonna sound a little ridiculous, so try and bear with me."

The next hour consisted of his explanation of what Ira had told him the night before, answering questions, and clearing up details. He was correct in his assumption that they weren't exactly thrilled to have one of the enemy working with us. On top of that, having the situation rely almost solely on said enemy was just the disgusting icing on the shit-cake.

"I don't like this Matt, there's so much that could, and probably will, go wrong," said Ichigo.

"I know, but I seriously doubt we'll get a chance like this again; Ira's the kind of guy who constantly changes alliances...kinda like Grimmjow."

"Hey, shove it!" he shouted.

"Plus, I honestly believe he wants these guys dead as much as we do, and regardless of what his intentions are after this is over, we can't let Astaroth finish what he's doing. It would be the end of the world, and probably the Soul Society as well."

Nathan sighed. "He's right, the second he's done here, he'd attack the Soul Society. The Soul Reapers are the only ones who could possibly stop him. Once we're gone, the entire material plain would be his, and there's nothing anyone could do about it."

"I tend to agree. Plus, I've read about angels and demons almost all my life, now I get a chance to thwart an invasion from Hell, I'll take it no matter who I have to work with," chimed in Holly.

Ichigo put up his hands to calm everyone down. "Alright, alright, I hear you. I might not like it, but it looks like it's our only option. The Soul Society sure as hell isn't gonna do anything about this, so I guess it's up to us."

"That's good to hear," said a new voice. One that Matt recognized as Ira's.

The dark particles that usually appeared when he disappeared into the air, were actually flying into his house and piecing together his body. In a matter of seconds, the small globs of darkness melded together to form the one armed avatar of wrath.

"Well, I see you took the liberty of explaining everything Matt. I can't say I'm not glad, I wasn't exactly looking forward to explaining all of this again."

"Yeah well, I just didn't want to waste any time."

He nodded. "Well then, I'll let you in on what's gonna go down."

Everyone leaned forward to listen to every word the man had to say.

"First off, when you all first arrive at their base, it's gonna be heavily defended with spiritual barriers and hordes of Hellspawn Hollows. Now, I can't do anything about the Hollows, they'll attack automatically, but I can open up the barriers for you and let you inside. I'm not exactly in those guy's good graces anymore, but I can still get inside and open the barriers from within; fighting your way though shouldn't be too hard," he explained.

"Next up, we'll need to leave a few people behind to hold off the Hollows, those barriers won't hold that many for long. The ones of us that are left will split up and engage the remaining four members of the original seven. While you're doing that, Matt and I will take on Astaroth, between the two of us, we should be able to beat him."

"Finally, once he's dead, I'll close off the portal and seal the cavern, and that'll be the end of it," he finished.

Ichigo nodded. "Sounds like a good enough plan."

"I have one question though," said Holly, "where exactly is the base?"

"Well, their base is here in Seattle, but the portal isn't even on this continent."

"So how do we get there?" asked Matt.

"There should be a pathway similar to a senkaimon that will lead straight to it. The portal itself is in a little place called Stonehenge," Ira explained. (A/N: Yes, that is really what I think it's for. You laugh now, but just wait. When the the apocalypse comes, you'll be apologizing to me before you die!)

"We need to do this soon, so I've marked the location of the base on this map. Come to that location at exactly five o'clock tomorrow, that's when I'll be on the inside to open the barriers. Take today to make whatever preparations you need; I'll need some time, that's for sure."

They all nodded in confirmation.

"Right then, until tomorrow."

With that, he dissipated back into the air in a similar fashion as he arrived. Just as quickly as he showed up, he was gone as the last small particle slipped right through the wall.

Once Ira was finished with his explanation and everyone was agreed that this was the course of actions they were going to take, everyone went off to take care of any last minute business. Uryu, Chad, and Grimmjow headed back to the hotel, Holly went back to her house, and the rest of the group stayed with Matt, as they didn't really have anywhere else to stay.

So here they were, the sun had gone under the horizon just a few hours ago. It was around ten o'clock at night and Matt couldn't sleep. Ichigo, Nathan, and Toshiro were all sleeping in his living room, easily able to avoid bumping into his parents who'd gone to bed about an hour ago. He was laying in his bed with Koshino laying on the floor right next to him. He was blankly staring at the ceiling, trying not to think about anything, but thinking about everything despite his wishes.

He sat up and sighed, rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"You can't sleep either?" asked Koshino.

He looked shook his head. "No...to nervous."

She sat up as well and took a seat next to him. She lifted her hand and touched his cheek, turning his head to face her.

"Listen Matt, you're the strongest person I know. You won't fail tomorrow because you care too much. Too much about your family, friends, everyone; you'd never let anyone you love down," she said, squeezing his hand.

"As long as you promise to stay safe, I'll be fine," he said, laughing with a hint of nervousness still in his voice.

"Of course, I care about you too much."

He smiled, suddenly feeling much better, and much more tired. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, then layed back down.

"Thanks Koshino."

"Of course. Good night Matt."

"Yeah, 'night."

With that, he rolled over and finally let sleep take him.

As I said in the beginning, this was a veeeeeery boring chapter. Not my worst, but definitely my most boring. Also as I said though, it was really only here to give you a basic overview of what's gonna be happening in the next few chapters, and to fill in the time gap that normally would have been there. I don't like big time gaps, there've been enough in this story already.

Anywho, there'll be much better chapters to come, so sit tight. The next one is about a day or two away, I'm just good like that.

Now review damn it! REVIEW OR DIE!! (I swear to God I'll cut you!)