This chapter has been revised as of 9/29/18 for quality-of-reading improvements. The (edited) original author's note:

For those of you that were wondering, the foreshadowing in last chapter was the vending machine/soda thing.

1,000 followers? I have so many people to disappoint.

Chapter 10

"I'll be back from school late today," I called. My dad waved acknowledgement from the table. Satisfied that he'd heard, I shouldered my bag and stepped outside. Chad, Orihime, and Uryū were waiting for me across the street, chatting among themselves. I had one foot in the street when a truck screamed past, nearly flattening my foot. I was frozen in place, hair and clothes fluttering in the breeze the truck had created, when Orihime noticed me.

"Oh, Ichigo! You're finally ready. Let's go!"

"I'm coming," I said, glancing after the truck. It had already rounded a corner and disappeared. Shaking my head, I joined my friends. Chad had three bags and a backpack. "What's with all the stuff?" I asked.

"Supplies," he answered.

"Supplies," I repeated, and then it clicked. "Yeah, of course." We turned right at the next street and walked up to the command tent. I rolled my shoulders, then looked back at Chad, only to frown. "Where's Orihime?"

Chad dropped his bags. They made tiny craters in the sand. "She got hurt. Went to the medical tent with Uryū."

"And she didn't say anything?"

Chad shrugged. I took off, losing my way almost immediately in a maze of white tents. The farther I went, the flatter the tents got. Soon, I was running on top of them, and then just on sand. I slowed to a walk. "Orihime?"

"Right here!"

I turned and there she was, wearing a white dress. I walked up to her.

"Where's your armor?" I asked. "You know it's dangerous to walk around without it."

She laughed. "Oh, don't worry. I'm fine. It's just a scratch," she reached over and peeled her dress open to reveal a hollow hole beneath, "see?"

Revulsion nearly made me gag. Unable to meet her eyes, I looked behind her to see my friends flanking Aizen, who smiled at me. I tore my gaze away from him and focused on Orihime. She frowned at me, concern lacing her tone.

"Are you okay, Ichigo?" she asked. "You look upset."

"I'm fine," I managed. "I just—I just—"

"Why so upset, Ichigo Kurosaki?" Aizen called. He gestured, and a legion of hollows crawled up from the sands around me. Some of them slithered around my friends, winding up their bodies, scales and spines sliding over skin. "Your friends are where they belong. Isn't this what you wanted?"

"No," I growled, reaching for Zangetsu. I unsheathed the cleaver, and the butcher's knife glinted in the moonlight. I stared at the silver metal. Orihime reached out and grabbed my wrist before I could move. Her dress was streaked with red.

"Ichigo," she said, "you should calm down."

I looked between her and Aizen. My head hurt. Uryū was petting a hollow like it was a dog, but every time his hand made contact with the hollow's back, his skin steamed and bubbled like it was brushing acid. Chad had gotten into an arm-wrestling contest with another hollow. He was using his left arm; his right arm hung broken at his side. "I—"

"I told you," Orihime interrupted, blood sliding down her cheeks like tears. "It's just a scratch."

A sword erupted from her chest.

I woke in a cold sweat, my stomach roiling and nausea threatening to overwhelm me. With trembling muscles, I staggered into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me and barely making it to the toilet in time to heave up my dinner. The taste of bile filled my mouth and I scraped my nails against the tile floor almost without realizing it. My vision swam even as goose bumps rose up and down my arms and a dull ringing filled my ears. I gagged, my entire body convulsing for a moment as it fought against echoes of agony.

I didn't know how long I stayed like that, on my knees, hugging myself, shivering, drawn and pale with bloodshot eyes and the expression of a cornered animal. I couldn't see my bathroom, just an endless desert teeming with hollows that had once been Shinigami.

Then there was a gentle hand on my shoulder, a source of support that hadn't been there before, and a soft, damp cloth pressing against my face and cleaning off the bile. At some point I must have closed my eyes because when I opened them to see who it was I saw my dad kneeling next to me, gently providing help with an expression that made him look far older than he should. We made eye contact and there was a deep worry in his eyes, a sorrow than ran straight through his soul.

More nausea rolled through me and I threw up again, helpless to stop myself, but this time my dad was rubbing my back in soothing circles, saying, "it's okay, everything is fine now. You're okay."

I wanted to say that no everything wasn't okay but I couldn't, the words wouldn't come and maybe that was because just this once they weren't true and I didn't have the energy to speak much less lie to my father's face when he was just trying to help.

Dad didn't say a word after that; he cleaned everything up, helped me to my feet, and supported me while he walked me back to my room. Not once was the silence broken by words, nor the darkness by light. He helped me get back under my blankets, handed me the pillow I'd thrown across the room during the night, and then left, sparing one last look at me before he left my room. He softly closed the door behind him without disturbing the silencing Kidō I had put up around the room the night before so that my screaming wouldn't wake Karin and Yuzu.

I shuddered, turning over in bed and drawing into myself, trying to still the shivers that still wracked my muscles. Zangetsu and the Old Man were silent in my mind and I knew that it was storming in my inner world.

Sleep eluded me for the rest of the night, but I never got up and instead stared at the wall, seeing phantom battles taking place on the smooth surface, watching as nameless and faceless Shinigami were cut down by monsters of shadow and bone.

Eventually, the morning light drifted through the window and dispelled the images from the wall. I stayed in my bed until I heard movement right outside my door. My father came barreling through the door, all exuberance and energy and so normal that I couldn't help the small, grateful smile on my lips.

"IIIIIIICHIIIIIIIIIIGOOOOOOO!"

I rolled to one side a second before one overzealous father's foot slammed into the space where my head had been. Another second passed and I reached up, grabbed the offending limb, and pulled hard. My father let out a very manly yelp as he fell and I took advantage of his surprise to hurl him across my room, making sure to keep my strength in check.

Dad crashed into the closet door then slid down to the floor, letting out a low groan all the while. Even so, he managed to give me a thumbs-up and a crooked smile. "Good job, my son. You have improved so much!"

I could see it in his eyes. The lingering worry. The questions. But he didn't say any of that.

"Shut it, Dad," I muttered with affection that only my father would be able to pick up on. I sat up and rubbed my eyes just for show. "Now get out. I need to get dressed for school."

"You don't have school this Saturday." Isshin gave me an odd look with genuine concerned buried within it. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Forget about it," I muttered, getting to my feet and stretching. "Are Karin and Yuzu up?"

"Yup. You slept right through breakfast but Yuzu left some toast out for you."

I had heard them some time ago. Strange how loud they sounded now when I slept through the mornings with ease before.

"Alright. Thanks, Dad." The thank-you was for more than just this morning; there was no way I could forget what my father had done the night before, and I appreciated it.

"Not a problem!"

Just as quickly as he had appeared, my father disappeared. I ran a hand through my hair, letting out a deep breath. It was strange; my father and I had grown far closer far more quickly than we had the first time. Maybe it was how I had drawn out our conversations, paid a little more attention to him, had a little more patience for his antics.

Odd how much a little knowledge of the future could change a relationship so drastically.

It was midday when I sensed her—them. The Old Man had wanted me to go on a walk, and since he tended to know what was best for my psyche I had listened. I'd grabbed a bottle of water and apple to eat on my way out, since Yuzu's breakfast was already fading quickly in my memory, overwritten by instincts that all but demanded I eat whenever possible. Old habits were difficult to break.

When I'd first been planning after coming back in time, I'd been pretty confused with my timelines. It didn't help that this incident had been so small in the long run that I'd nearly forgotten about it. It was only because of the hours of sleepless nights spent trying to think about anything but the war that I'd remembered it and, more importantly, remembered when it was and the main players involved. Still, I was sure that she was ahead of schedule; Rurichiyo Kasumiōji shouldn't have been coming for two more days. Had something pushed up the schedule?

Zangetsu scoffed in my head while his other half, the Old Man, reminded me that I had somewhat messed with the timetables when I killed Aizen. Since the madman had taken his time with his plans before, however, I hadn't realized that it would actually affect when certain events would occur.

Sighing, I finished my apple and water, tossing them into a trash can and recycling bin, respectively.

I guess the walk isn't really going to work.

"Ya got some time ta clear yer head. With all the crap that goes on in yer life that's probably the most yer gonna get for a while."

"There was the time when we stood above the clouds and watched the sunset."

"We only had time 'cause everyone was still reelin' from Aizen's death."

True. But I think the Amagai situation shouldn't be all that difficult to handle if I play it right.

"The only way to get the Gotei Thirteen on your side in this endeavor is to show them the Kasumiōji's Bakkōtō factory. However, in order to do that, you will have to illegally trespass on Kasumiōji territory."

Except I'll have Rurichiyo with me. She isn't going to run off this time.

"And how're ya gonna keep her here? Force? How are ya gonna get her ta help ya like that?"

I don't know. I'll think of something.

"Ya always do."

There was a rare note of fond exasperation in Zangetsu's voice, one that I never heard often but was yet a sign of how much Zangetsu had changed. It seemed as though the part of him that was Shinigami had developed alongside his hollow half, slowly maturing into more "human" emotions and giving him a sense of loyalty that went beyond simple respect for my power and strength.

An abrupt surge in the number of Gargantas opening to admit hollows into Karakura alerted me to the fact that Kenryū had likely broken whatever hollow bait he had with him. I had never figured out exactly why he'd had it and used it; thinking back, it was probably to show Rurichiyo how dangerous the World of the Living could be without protection and to test my skills as a substitute Shinigami so that he could see whether I was talented enough to protect Rurichiyo or not. Either way, it was damn annoying.

I ducked into a nearby alley as a particularly large and ugly hollow swooped through the space my head had just occupied. It was lucky that I was keeping my reiatsu suppressed; if I hadn't been, the hollows would have turned on me in an instant. Plus, more would have shown up. For the moment, however, they were ignoring me.

Not for long.

Separating from my body, I pulled out Zangetsu. My shikai release and the wide energy attacks that it allowed would come in handy. After all, I didn't have the convenient flyswatter alternatively known as a Quincy bow.

Uryū always gotten mad at me, even in the middle of the war, for calling it that. The guy had his pride even after everything that had happened, and that was something I could respect.

After taking care of the hollows immediately near me—they were all weak, as most hollows drawn to bait tended to be—I used shunpo and shot into the sky, eviscerating several more hollows on the way and not even bothering to watch as they faded into formless reishi. The monsters quickly surrounded me, sensing the reiatsu I was barely leaking out. I was making myself look weak, hoping to draw the hollows to my position.

"That's it," I muttered, bringing the cleaver back and charging it with reiryoku. "Keep coming."

When I deemed the moment right, I brought the sword across and in front of my body, releasing the pent-up energy it contained at the same time. A blue crescent exploded out of it, giving the hollows no time to react and save themselves. They disintegrated in an instant, leaving no trace of their existence behind.

I touched down on the ground once I sensed Rukia nearby. She had reappeared in the past week, having gotten a brief assignment in the World of the Living.

I had to refrain from sighing. Byakuya was a clever man, I'd give him that. I had no doubt that he suspected something of the Kasumiōji clan, partially because they had been acting suspicious of late (on a completely unrelated note, late night jaunts to Soul Society via Garganta were always fun, especially when no one realized that I was there) and partly because the Kuchiki clan was naturally disinclined towards the other Noble Clans, even if they weren't quite on the same level of society. The eldest Kuchiki had likely pulled some strings to get Rukia to Karakura Town.

The Kasumiōji's production of ceremonial blades had slowed considerably over the past year with the majority of the clan's resources going to something else. With Gyōkaku Kumoi up to his neck in tricks, lies, and assassinations only barely hidden by his noble status it was surprising that the construction of Bakkōtō had not been accidentally discovered previously by some poor lost attendant or visiting noble.

Then again, it was entirely possible that that situation had occurred and the unfortunate witness had met an equally unfortunate end as a result. Not including Amagai's father, of course. Some other unfortunate witness.

At least I'd already gotten the whole, "Ichigo why are you wearing a scarf you've never worn a scarf before and where did you get those arm guards are those formulas seriously where did you get those did you steal them" rant from Rukia, and a much simpler version from my friends. That had been awkward to explain without making it sound like Yoruichi was being creepy.

The sound of running feet, accompanied by panicked fluctuations of reiatsu barely kept at levels that hollows wouldn't actively pursue, reached my senses and I turned just in time to see Rurichiyo, Enryū, and Kenryū come barreling over me with incredible speed.

"Hey," I started, half-turning to follow where they were going. A massive number of hollows were following them, probably because Kenryū had been the one to break the bait or had accidentally let his reiatsu slip from his tight control for a moment.

"Handle them! It is your duty!" Kenryū called back, making eye contact with me for just a second. I scowled, turned back around, and loosed a Getsuga Tenshō with incredible potency that completely disintegrated the offending monsters. One let out a pathetic dying screech before it disappeared under the blue wave of energy.

"Ichigo!"

Rukia landed next to me, Sode no Shirayuki already released and glinting brightly in the sunlight.

"Rukia," I greeted, sheathing my trench blade when I sensed that it would no longer be necessary. "What's going on? Where did all these hollows come from?" A cloud of hollows was growing in the sky, but I noted that the rate of Garganta openings was declining more and more quickly as the seconds passed.

"Someone broke hollow bait," Rukia replied promptly. "I don't know why, but Uryū, Chad, and Orihime have been working on keeping the damage contained and preventing the hollows from attacking any innocents. I was checking to make sure that you were able to handle things over here."

"I've been handling it," I said, my tone somewhat defensive. As if to prove my words wrong, a hollow's roar pierced the air like a signal for all the others to attack. My scowl—which had softened when Rukia arrived—returned in full force and without even a glance at the petite Shinigami I leaped into the air, bisecting three hollows as I went. Unsheathing my trench blade, I whirled around, using shunpo to go from hollow to hollow. Even with using Getsuga Tenshō every few moments, there were simply too many hollows for my skill set to handle, and I couldn't risk using Kidō now without drawing suspicion. I hadn't displayed any affinity for using it in the past.

Rukia worked to assist, her zanpakutō a beautiful tool of death as she wove through the hollows with grace matched by potent lethality.

Abruptly, blue arrows began tearing the hollows near me to shreds. One came uncomfortably close to my arm and I had to refrain from stepping aside; Quincy arrows and I had a very bad history. After all, my inner Quincy spirit had tried to teach me to summon a Quincy bow through what I could only call an immersion tactic. Needless to say, it hadn't worked out well.

"Watch it, Uryū!" I yelled, scowling. "You almost hit me!"

"Please," replied the Quincy, lowering his bow and pushing up his glasses with his free hand, making them flash. "As if I would make such an amateurish mistake."

"Prick," I muttered, descending to his level and landing in front of him. "Though I'll admit that your flyswatter is handy for handling large numbers of hollows."

Uryū's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "It's not a flyswatter, Ichigo."

"Say, Rukia," I said, completely ignoring Uryū. "Did you see those three weirdos?"

Neither Rukia nor I reacted to Uryū's muttered words; for an uptight guy he had a vocabulary that could probably come close to matching mine. At least, mine of six years ago. The Shinigami had taught me a lot of very interesting phrases during the time I spent with them.

"Who? You were the only one here, Ichigo. Though I did sense three odd Reiatsu signatures before I arrived."

"I sensed them as well," Uryū noted, calming down. "You saw them?"

"Yeah, they were kind of hard to miss," I said flatly. "They led a bunch of hollows here and nearly buried me."

"What did they look like?" Rukia asked, pulling out her denreishinki. She glanced at me expectantly.

"Two guys dressed like Shinigami and one little girl in robes," I answered. "I heard them saying something about how it was my duty to protect 'her'—the little girl, I think."

Rukia made a thoughtful noise, tapping away at her device.

"Rukia," I asked, my voice mild.

"What is it, Ichigo?" the Shinigami asked as she kept pressing the rather loud buttons on her denreishinki.

"Could you please stop making that beeping noise? Your phone thing has to have a silent mode. What are you even doing on it, anyway?"

"Since Shinigami are invisible to humans and cannot be heard by them normally, a silent mode was deemed useless by the Twelfth Division."

"Of course it was."

"As for what I'm doing, I'm trying to find record of two or three Shinigami passing through the Senkaimon in the Seireitei."

"Oh. Any luck?" I already knew the answer, and Rukia's curt negative only confirmed my expectations. This would've been too easy if anything was officially documented. "Well, whatever. If it's important, they'll show up again."

"You would think," Rukia muttered. "It's a little strange; if more Shinigami were coming to Karakura Town, I should have gotten a notice."

"Maybe they forgot."

"I doubt it. Most of the updates are done automatically."

"A program?"

"Mm-hm."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Silence reigned for a few seconds as I tried and failed to keep a small smirk off my face.

"You don't actually know anything about it, do you?"

"Sh-shut up!" Rukia snapped, glancing at me, her face red. "Just because I'm not a know-it-all—"

"I never said you were," I interrupted, my smirk switching to a grin.

"Jerk," Rukia huffed, her attention going back to her phone.

"I didn't mean—"

"Guys!" Kon shouted from the window, his face pressed against the window, one of his stuffed paws and its three felt claws waving to get our attention. I glanced at him.

"What is it, Kon?"

"You've got new neighbors!"

"Neighbors?" I'd forgotten how non-subtle they'd been about all of this the first time around. How the assassins hadn't found Rurichiyo sooner was beyond me.

The little lion toy pressed his face even harder against the window. "Uh...some black-haired guy is talking to the moving people. He could be one of the ones you saw!"

"He could be," I agreed, not budging from my position on the bed. Kon, realizing this, jumped away from the window and landed on my stomach. I stared at him without moving my head, his felt face taking up a large portion of my field of vision.

"Why are you so calm about this? Shouldn't you go investigate? Blow them up? Demand answers? Both at the same time?!"

"They're most likely Shinigami, Kon," I said, picking up the stuffed animal by his face and transferring him off my stomach. "And they're not going anywhere or doing any harm. There's no problem with them staying there. Plus, if Kisuke hasn't done anything, they're probably harmless."

Which I knew was only partially true. Still, going in guns blazing like Kon wanted wouldn't get me anywhere. I needed to play this smart.

Switching track now that I'd given him nothing, Kon turned to Rukia. "Why are you not even remotely interested in this?" The Shinigami gave no immediate response. "Rukia! Aren't you—"

"Quiet, Kon," Rukia ordered, her gaze fixed back on her denreishinki. Mouth agape, Kon obeyed, but not without muttering once he had recovered from his incredulity.

I glanced at him, smiling slightly in amusement before I stretched and sat up. If the timeline was still somewhat as it had been, there would be an assassin coming either tonight or tomorrow. If I was lucky, I would get some answers this time and prevent the assassin from killing himself to avoid questioning. Kenryū—I was pretty sure that was his name, but it also could've been Len-su, or frankly anything similar to it—would be less suspicious of me if our second encounter was me protecting the princess again.

Finished with her denreishinki, Rukia stood up and said that she was going to turn in for the night. I hummed acknowledgement. "Can you get the light on your way out?"

She did. I closed my eyes, content to simply lie down on my bed until the time came. Kon was too riled up to sleep—a fact that he repeated more than once—and I knew that he was keeping watch out the window. I heard the sound of Rukia's door closing. For several minutes, the loudest thing in my room was my own breathing.

"Perhaps they will not attack tonight," the Old Man mused.

Could be tomorrow, I acknowledged. We'll find out. I can go a night without sleep.

"Fuckers should just get it over with. Cowards enough t' try an' assassinate her, not even a fair fight. They ain't worth our time."

I rolled over and stared at my dark, empty room. I don't want an influential clan in Soul Society running around with soul-sucking swords. The less crap we've got destabilizing the Gotei Thirteen when the next threat comes, the better.

A sudden pulse of reiatsu from next door caught my attention and I instantly separated from my body. Rukia was already phasing through my bedroom door. If she was confused by the fact that I was already outside my body, she didn't show it.

"Ichigo!"

"It's next door," I said, turning with her and heading for my bedroom window. Once there, Rukia and I could see one of the bodyguards on the roof of the house, one hand on his zanpakutō as he looked around with a serious expression. There was no sign of anyone else. Rukia glanced at me.

"His reiatsu?" she queried. No doubt the nigh-undetectable barriers I had set up around my house to deter hollows were interfering with her reiatsu perception. While she was distracted, I easily liberated her of her denreishinki; something told me I would need it later.

"Well," I replied, slipping the soul phone into a pocket and out of sight, "it isn't normal, no matter who it's coming from. Let's go."

Kon walked up to us just in time to receive a sandaled foot in the face as Rukia and I leaped outside.

I landed close enough to the shinigami that he was forced to jump back, his footsteps almost silent on the tiled roof. Rukia landed nearby, her eyes hard. "Nowhere to run," she said, her tone carrying all the authority she had behind it. "Now start talking."

"Tell us what's going on here," I added. "Your reiatsu has changed since earlier. I'm a substitute Shinigami and the guy that lives next door, so I can't just let that slide. Now—"

I was cut off as the odd reiatsu that had mixed with the bodyguard's suddenly spiked, accompanied by a collection of red spheres that glowed with bright light nearby before shattering with the sound of breaking glass.

"The hell?" I said, grabbing Zangetsu's handle.

"What is that?" Rukia asked.

The bodyguard—again, I was pretty sure his name was Kenryū, but I wasn't sure—didn't reply and instead ran after the dark figure that was heading for the house. He didn't make it in time to stop the person and cursed as he followed the intruder inside. Rukia and I were a second behind him as we jumped into the house, but our vision was still obscured by darkness and the clouds of dust that were drifting through the air. Even so, I could see that the dark figure was crouched a few meters away.

"Who is this guy?" I asked. The bodyguard tensed and then glanced to one side, no doubt seeing his partner and the little girl running away.

He glanced back at me and I had to suppress the urge to sigh as I figured out what he was going to say. "Ichigo, I leave the rest to you."

With that, the Shinigami jumped out the window after his charge. Before I could pursue, a flash of light alerted me to the fact that the assassin was standing back up. He was clothed in a uniform vaguely reminiscent of the Onmitsukidō, with red accents on his shoulder and forehead. He had a blade on one hand with an oval mirror set near the hilt that gleamed in the moonlight.

"Alright then," I said, dismissing the three non-threatening dead people from my mind for the time being, "who's this guy?"

"His uniform is similar, but he doesn't seem to be a part of the Onmitsukidō," Rukia noted.

The assassin jumped past Rukia and I and onto the roof and began running in pursuit of the girl.

"Hold it!" I yelled, giving chase. I landed in front of the assassin before he could even get to the end of the roof. Rukia was only a few steps behind me.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" I asked, my cleaver unsheathed and held out in clear threat.

"He obviously intends to go after that girl and her men," Rukia stated, Sode no Shirayuki glinting in the moonlight.

"Looks that way, doesn't it?" I growled, accenting the last two words with an overhead strike that would have split the assassin from head to waist had he not brought his blade up in a block. "What the hell do you want with that girl, bastard? Talk!"

I was just barely too slow to avoid the flash of light from the man's bakkōtō and I ignored the derisive comments coming from my hollow zanpakutō spirit. Rukia stepped in to help but she wasn't fast enough and only my reflexes saved me from getting my throat slit.

"Ichigo, what's wrong?" Rukia called, only to get blinded by the assassin's zanpakutō as well.

"That's what's wrong," I muttered under my breath. In the moment that Rukia was blinded, I slipped into a series of shunpo steps that the assassin couldn't follow and neatly knocked him out with a strike to the back of his neck. He collapsed face-first onto the roof.

"Rukia, can you bind him?" I asked as she recovered. She blinked, evidently surprised, but nodded and cast several Bakudō to hold the assassin in place. "We'll need to figure out who sent him here," I continued. "And his sword...it's odd."

"It's fuckin' twisted. Makes me sick."

"It seems like it freezes the target for a second using the reflected light of the moon," Rukia noted.

I nodded, pleased that Rukia was as perceptive as I remembered. "Yeah. You go find that girl; I'll ask this guy some questions and see what I can figure out."

Rukia gave me a measured look. "Are you sure? There is a chance my Bakudō could wear off."

"I'll be fine," I said, trying to be as reassuring as possible. With one last glance between the unconscious assassin and me, Rukia nodded and sped off to search for the missing girl and her merry men. Meanwhile, I crouched down in front of the assassin and gingerly removed his bakkōtō, setting the thing aside like it was poisonous. Then I slapped the assassin across the face.

His return to consciousness must not have been fun; I had added several more Bakudō on top of the ones holding him in place, one of which was a special one I learned from Yoruichi. It was designed to slowly become more painful and uncomfortable as time passed, and given the time frame I had, it was going to do so very quickly.

"You've got exactly two minutes to tell me everything," I said, casually reaching into my pocket and activating the "record" feature on Rukia's borrowed denreishinki.

The assassin merely glared at me, his gaze occasionally flicking to the bakkōtō a few meters away. I growled. "You're not getting that again." Still the assassin didn't speak, so I began crushing him with my reiatsu and called on some of my hollow power to augment my voice. "Talk."

He was visibly struggling but whatever training he'd had went deep. With a frustrated sigh, I realized that I wouldn't be getting anything out of him no matter what I tried. I just didn't have enough time.

"Dammit," I muttered, turning and dismissing the Bakudō I had put up. My reiatsu had already weakened Rukia's and I took a few steps away from the assassin, pretending to be frustrated. While I waited for the assassin to realize he could get free I quickly deleted the recording and made sure that there was no evidence that I had tampered with Rukia's denreishinki.

I sensed Rukia getting closer. In that moment the assassin made his move.

He broke the weakened Bakudō that held him and lunged for the bakkōtō before leaping back to get some distance between us. The air instantly filled with tension that heightened with Rukia's arrival.

"The girl's name is Rurichiyo Kasumiōji. She and her men are right behind me," she said, only to freeze at the sight of the freed assassin. "Ichigo! I thought you said you could handle it!"

"He broke free, okay?" I replied, injecting a little bit of defensiveness into my voice and posture. "I don't know how to cast Bakudō!

Rukia sighed. "Fine, then. We'll just capture him again—"

The assassin, probably coming to the conclusion that the next battle would not end well for him, turned tail to flee.

"Oh, no you don't," I growled, charging a weaker Getsuga Tenshō and firing it with little difficulty. The blue crescent caught up to the assassin in moments but the man made no move to protect himself and even opened his guard to take the attack head-on.

The energy attack exploded on contact, completely vaporizing the assassin and sending the bakkōtō flying.

I knew that the Kasumiōji assassins would probably recover the damn thing before Rukia or any of the Shinigami of the Gotei Thirteen had a chance to find it.

"Did he just...kill himself?" Rukia whispered, her eyes wide. The last particles of reishi that had been the assassin dissipated.

"Yeah," I muttered, cursing myself mentally for forgetting that the assassins weren't as strong as my other enemies. Despite trying to compensate, I had still fired an attack strong enough to destroy an opponent that was not guarding himself.

And the assassin had intentionally lowered his defenses. Damn.

"I guess we won't be able to figure out who sent him," Rukia said with a short sigh. "Nevertheless, I believe we should be able to get some answers from Kenryū."

So his name is Kenryū.

On cue, the black-haired Shinigami, his partner, and Rurichiyo all appeared on the roof, with the girl—Rurichiyo Kasumiōji—in the arms of the much larger bodyguard, who's name was...was...damn.

"You took care of the assassin I see," Kenryū noted, looking as calm as ever. His expression irritated me. "I have to compliment you on your—oof!" I couldn't resist the urge to send him sprawling. He shakily sat up, holding his face where a noticeable red footprint now sat. "W—why did you do that?"

"For turning tail and leaving us to do all your dirty work, dammit," I spat, clearly conveying my irritation. "You break hollow bait here, and my friends get put in danger. Think ahead!" Rukia stepped in, her tone far more placating.

"Why don't you tell us what you've gotten us mixed up in," she suggested. Kenryū looked uncertain, but after a glance at his partner, he nodded.

"I'll call Orihime, Chad, and Uryū," I said, deciding to just cover all the bases. They'd be asking about the hollow bait anyway. "There's a chance we might need their help."

"Hey, Kenryū! We need to talk! Open up!"

Kenryū's weird rainbow barrier—which had been re-erected after the previous assassination attempt—rejected my attempts to go through it. I could have broken in, but I got the feeling that the two bodyguards would not appreciate that no matter what my intentions were.

"Oi! Open up in there! C'mon, I know you can hear me!"

"Break down the door."

"Knock harder."

Neither of you is helping.

"I know you're listening to me, now let me in!"

A minute later, a rather irate looking Kenryū finally let me in. "Your rudeness knows no bounds, Ichigo Kurosaki," he said, his voice laced with disapproval. "What do you want?"

I resisted the urge to scowl harder at him and instead made myself relax. "Well, you may want to call Enryū. And not Rurichiyo, if you get what I'm saying." I'd gotten Enryū's name from Rukia. Only after I'd heard it did I remember that the two bodyguards' names had rhymed.

It turned out that Kenryū didn't have to do anything to get Enryū; the larger man practically appeared a moment later, getting way too close for comfort as he peered at my face. Kenryū, giving me a rather pointed look, spoke.

"You should address her as Lady Rurichiyo, substitute Shinigami," he advised.

This time I did scowl harder while I pushed Enryū away. It took more effort than I expected. "I'll keep that in mind. Where can we talk somewhere private?"

Kenryū and Enryū exchanged a slightly confused look at my change in tone. I wasn't playing the part of the confused teenager anymore. After a silent conversation between the two Shinigami, Kenryū lead the way to a side room.

"Lady Rurichiyo shouldn't be able to hear us in here," Kenryū said, voice curt. "Now what was it that you wanted to tell us?"

"You can't let Rurichiyo into my school," I said shortly. "I know you plan to, and there's really no point. It just puts her in a more vulnerable position, not to mention the fact that you'll drag my friends even further into this mess, which I can't allow. I won't have them be targeted while they're just trying to go to school like normal kids."

Kenryū was speechless and Enryū was rapidly waving his hands around.

"W—well, Lady Rurichiyo needs to know about the World of the Living!" Kenryū replied. "As her bodyguards, it's our duty to educate her, and attending your human school is a perfect opportunity!"

"Let me put this as bluntly as I can," I said. "Rurichiyo looks like a middle-school kid and you two wouldn't even blend in as college students. Plus, you're both about as subtle as freight trains and Rurichiyo has the manners of someone from the eighteenth century. It wouldn't work, not to mention that it will make Rurichiyo stand out."

"You will address her as Lady Rurichiyo!" Kenryū snapped.

"Give it up already!"

"I shall not! You will address her with the proper amount of respect!"

"Tch," I scoffed, crossing my arms. "I'll address her however I want. I'm not a part of Soul Society, not really, and I don't care about your stupid customs." I sighed. "Look, just don't enroll her in the school; my friends and I can teach her about the World of the Living just fine in places we know will be safe."

"And exactly how are we supposed to entertain Lady Rurichiyo in the meantime?"

I shrugged. "Not my problem. I can skip school once, but my teacher's been getting on my case about it lately—" a blatant lie—"so I can't do it any more than that, got it? You've got this entire house; there has to be something safe that you can do."

"W-well," Kenryū muttered, "there were several board games stashed in one of the cabinets."

I nodded, hiding a pleased smile. Convincing the Kasumiōji crew to stay at their house had been a gamble and one that had fortunately paid off. As long as Rurichiyo didn't do anything dumb and spoiled, of course. Which she probably would if I tried to keep this up for too long.

Damn.

Well, I had two days. One at the very least.

"I'll take her around Karakura Town tomorrow," I said. I'd already talked with Rukia about it. Kenryū looked unimpressed, so I kept going with a roll of my eyes. "And teach her about the World of the Living."

Kenryū stared at me and abruptly got far too close. I leaned back, bracing a hand against the ground to stop myself from falling over. "What the hell are you doing?"

Kenryū's eyes narrowed. "You're acting differently."

"No shit! Maybe it's because you're literally in my face!"

The Shinigami bodyguard made no move to back away. "That may be so, but there's something else. How old are you? I was under the impressions that humans with your appearance were extremely immature."

"I-I'm sixteen, asshole, now get out of my face, dammit!"

"Oh," Kenryū said as though my answer explained everything. In an instant he was back where he had been before and I suddenly had breathing room. "You simply appear to be too old for that age," he explained, pulling out a biology textbook and paging through it. "You're remarkably mature from what I can tell, though some of the psychological studies from our other books from the World of the Living would be more accurate—"

My eyebrow twitched with annoyance and I batted the book out of his hands. "You're acting like a creep. I'm leaving."

I didn't stop for long enough to be bombarded by Kenryū or Enryū's weirdness again and I only barely paused to throw up a stronger barrier around their house. It shimmered briefly before vanishing, through I was careful to make sure that Kenryū, Enryū, and Rurichiyo would be capable of leaving.

It would be difficult to explain to them what was going on if they couldn't.

"Can you sense where Rurichiyo went?" I asked Rukia. The petite Shinigami shook her head, frowning.

"No. That veil of hers almost completely hides her reiatsu. I can't feel her presence at all."

"Damn," I cursed, looking around Karakura Town. Even with my improved ability to sense reiatsu, I was having difficulty. All I knew was that Rurichiyo wasn't dead, but with the way she'd stormed off after getting mad at Kenryū and Enryū, she could be anywhere. I sighed. "This is what I get for making her eat carrots."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Ichigo," Rukia said. "True, it is your fault, but Lady Rurichiyo's guardians share some of the blame."

"I could tell," I muttered, recalling how Kenryū and Enryū had moped in a corner until Karin and Yuzu had told us about how Rurichiyo had disappeared. "Anyway, this is a pain. There's gotta be some faster way of finding her."

"All we can do is search," Rukia said diplomatically.

Suddenly, a burst of foreign reiatsu caused both Rukia and I to freeze. I flashed back to the first assassination attempt. Were they trying again?

"Who is that?" Rukia asked, turning to face the direction it had come from.

"I don't recognize it," I said. Another reiatsu, one that I did recognize, then flared higher. "Orihime! Let's go!"

"Right!"

We sped through Karakura, though I had to consciously limit my speed so that Rukia could keep up. By the time we got to the small park area where Rurichiyo and Orihime were, Kenryū and Enryū had already arrived.

Kenryū glared at me from his position of kneeling by Rurichiyo, who was still hugging Enryū. "You're late, Ichigo."

"What happened?" asked Rukia before I could get a word in. It was Orihime who answered while pointing to the man standing some ways away on a pile of weird rocks.

"Over there!" She said. My eyes narrowed.

"Looks like another assassin."

"Be on your guard," Rukia advised.

"Of course," I replied as we drew our swords and leaped at the attacker, whose oddly shaped weapon appeared to be some kind of shortened spear with a wide blade that had several strange markings and protrusions coming off of it.

He met me in the air, his weapon giving him a longer reach that forced me to leap back for a moment. I grit my teeth, annoyed that I had an audience. I trusted Rukia and Orihime, but I didn't want to reveal the true extent of my abilities, not yet. Especially with Kenryū and Enryū so close; I didn't want them to think I was all-powerful. And so I kept the seal.

Rukia followed up my attack, forcing the assassin to block. Rukia glanced at the area where the assassin's hand appeared to be inside the strange weapon before she too was forced back. She jumped to where I was, and we stood in the air, looking up at the assassin.

"Be careful, Ichigo," Rukia said, holding Sode no Shirayuki—still unreleased—in front of her. "He might use another one of those strange techniques."

On cue, the assassin slashed his strange weapon twice, sending green curtains of energy at Rukia and I. Gritting my teeth, I brought my blade up to block, knowing that if I didn't there was a chance that Rurichiyo could get hit. The wave pushed me all the way down to the ground before it abruptly solidified into rock.

"The hell?" I cursed, tugging on Zangetsu. I could hear my zanpakutō spirits—at least, the Quincy one—chastising me in my head for forgetting about the solidification detail, though with Rurichiyo behind me there had been little other choice than to block the attack. "Rukia, what's going on?"

"It's some kind of technique that converts a blade attack into solid walls!" Rukia tugged on her zanpakutō, trying to free it from the trap. I did the same, not sure how much strength I had to put into freeing my zanpakutō.

While Rukia and I were preoccupied, I saw the assassin leap past us. Soon after, I could hear Kenryū's voice.

"Bloom in glory, Benishidare!"

Right. The super lame zanpakutō.

The one detail I could never forget.

"Is that some kind of joke?!" I called to Kenryū.

It has to be, right? I mean, what would his bankai do? Create a field of flowers?

"Probably. It's stupid. Not even good for fightin."

"You should not be so critical. It is a good ability for a bodyguard, provided no one else interferes."

I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes.

"It's no joke," Kenryū said. "Observe."

I glanced over to the assassin and saw that pink flowers were blooming all over his weapon. The assassin looked pretty surprised, to say the least.

"My Benishidare's pollen will create flower blossoms on any weapon it touches, rendering it completely useless!"

"You couldn't come up with anything more badass?" I muttered.

"So cool!" Orihime gushed, clearly of the complete opposite opinion.

"Are we looking at the same thing?" Rukia asked her, appearing to be as unimpressed as I was with Kenryū's zanpakutō.

"You have an opening, Ichigo!" Kenryū called. "Do it!"

"Right. Getsuga Tenshō!"

Meanwhile, Rukia used Kidō to free her blade. "Sōkatsui!"

The blasts of power obliterated the two walls, creating quite a bit of wind as they did so.

"Wait!" Kenryū yelled. "Don't—urgh!" He had to shield himself from the dust flying through the air.

I strode out of the smoke, Zangetsu propped on one shoulder. "All right you masked bastard, tell us who the hell ordered you here." I abruptly realized that the previously helpless assassin now had Kenryū, Enryū, and Rurichiyo at his mercy. "Wait, what the hell happened to you people? Kenryū, what about your weird flower power?"

"You just blew away all of the pollen! My Benishidare only works if there's a large cloud of pollen surrounding the enemy!"

"That's unfortunate," Rukia observed while walking up beside me.

"More like stupid," I muttered under my breath. "It's even more lame the second time around."

Luckily, Rukia didn't hear my second comment.

"However," Kenryū added, bringing his sword down and placing one hand on the blade near the hilt. "There is a plan B."

With an overly exaggerated motion, the odd Shinigami bodyguard swept his hand down the blade, pushing off the seven flowers on it in the process. The blossoms promptly attached to the assassin's face, over his eyes.

"All right!" Kenryū said, looking entirely too proud of himself. "I've blinded him." He and Enryū—who had picked up Rurichiyo—turned and ran. "You take it from here!" he called back over his shoulder.

Rukia and I exchanged another unimpressed look.

"Did that really just happen?" I asked. Rukia shrugged.

The assassin, while trying to rip the pink flower from his face, released two more energy blasts that Rukia and I were forced to dodge.

"Pretty pathetic energy attacks."

I agreed with Zangetsu. "You're doing it all wrong!" I yelled at the assassin, who had finally managed to clear his vision. I grinned. "Let me show you what a real attack looks like." Energy build along Zangetsu's blade. The assassin's eyes widened, but he wasn't fast enough. "Getsuga Tenshō!"

The blue blast (now properly scaled down, unlike the last time) caught the assassin dead on, and when the dust cleared the man fell to his knees, his energy used up just from holding out against my attack. Rukia appeared at his side, her blade at his throat.

"End of the line," she said coldly. "Now talk. On whose orders were you sent here to kill Lady Rurichiyo?"

The assassin merely narrowed his eyes. Before I could shout a warning or even get to Rukia, he released a blast of energy, forcing Rukia away from him. He then launched an attack at me, buying himself another second.

"Don't!" I yelled, about to launch after him, but I was too late—the assassin plunged his weapon into the wall he had created and collapsed it on himself.

"Dammit," I growled once the dust had cleared. "We lost another one."

"I guess this is just how they operate," Rukia said. I stared at the rubble and the body beneath with a scowl. Coward.

Once we were sure the assassin was dead, we made our way over to where Kenryū, Enryū, and Rurichiyo were waiting.

"Sir Kenryū, are you all right?" Rukia asked. He nodded.

"Yes. Ichigo Kurosaki, you did surprisingly well. You have our thanks."

Doesn't he sound grateful?

"Extremely."

I looked at the Kasumiōji heiress, seeing an odd expression on her face. "Hey, Rurichiyo, are you all right?" Her expression cleared and she smiled.

"Yes, I am fine because I have Kenryū and Enryū to protect me." The two guardians looked surprised and quietly pleased by her words. "Now let us return home and eat a warm meal." Her voice, though it seemed normal enough, sounded a little smug to me. "Do not worry—I will make sure to eat all of my carrots. If I did not, it would be an insult to the farmers that grew them, would it not?"

I ignored the subsequent waterworks from Kenryū and Enryū. As Rukia and the others started the walk back, I turned my attention to Orihime. "By the way, are you okay?"

She nodded, smiling brightly enough to dispel the darkness of the last hour. "Of course!"

Please review.