AN: Okay, so the last chapter had mixed results. Some people didn't like it, some people liked it, some people didn't say, some people were confused…
But~ since some people weren't very pleased with the last one, I tried very hard with this one. I hope everyone enjoys it! (But you probably won't because of what happens…) Also, it's an early release. Woot woot!
Current Vote Count With PMs, Reviews, and Poll (THIS IS NOT THE FINAL RESULT):
IchigoxErzaxHarribel - 10
IchigoxErza - 5
IchigoxNelliel - 10
I don't want any pairings in this story! - 6
IchigoxHarribel - 2
IchigoxRukia - 3
I don't care... - 0
UlquiorraxOrihime - 2
IchigoxLucy - 1
IchigoxOrihime – 0
I will try my hardest with the winning pairing. But don't expect roses floating around and stuff. I'm not very good with romance, and since it's so late in the story it'll be a little awkward if the characters suddenly start throwing themselves at each other. SO INSTEAD, it'll probably just be some flushed feelings and a couple of meaningful glances, some "NOO!"'s in battle, etc. etc.
WARNING – OOCness, slight Magic Council bashing, potty mouths, some bloody clothes, and other fun stuff.
ON WITH THE CHAPTER~
The New Guild in Town
Chapter Ten: The Posters
It had been two days since Ichigo and Shirosaki had left, and it was surprisingly calm inside Hollow Moon.
Mostly because half the guild members were put in slow motion by Barragan, including Nnoitra, the Tres Bestias, Yammy, and a few other nameless.
Everyone else was either on a mission, lazing around, or doing things around the guild. So when the doors to the guild were nearly taken off the hinges by a frantic and unlikely trio, there wasn't much commotion.
Grimmjow, Dondochakka and Pesche were panting, sweaty, and rather upset about something, but were too out of breath to speak yet.
"Big brothers!" Nelliel shouted in delight, quickly transforming in a POOF! of smoke and hugging the two.
After a few minutes, they had rested enough to speak. Pesche was cradling Nel in his skinny arms and gesturing at Grimmjow.
"Alright! I'm going, I'm going!" Grimmjow muttered, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out some folded up parchment.
"Well go faster!" Dondochakka urged, making Grimmjow glare at him.
He unfolded the paper and held it up for everyone to see. Everyone stared at it in shock, worry, and anger.
In Grimmjow's hands, he held a wanted poster for none other than their Master, Ichigo Kurosaki.
"Damn. This was a brand new shirt too." Ichigo muttered, looking down at what once was an expensive t-shirt. Now it was smeared and splattered with blood – not his of course – torn, and covered in dust and dirt. His jeans were in a similar state, just not as bad. His coat had long since been abandoned and lost.
"It's your fault for wearing expensive shit on a monster extermination mission." Shiro said, brushing himself off in an attempt to make himself look a bit better. His clothes were in a slightly better state, only covered with more blood.
"What about you? Isn't that the shirt dad got you when he went on that trip to god-knows-where? That cost like, 1000 Jewels?" Ichigo asked. Shiro looked at him with a grin.
"Why do you think I wore it? Who needs a fucking pink shirt that says 'Daddy's Boy'?" Shiro asked incredulously, looking down at the ruined garment. "The man must have fell out of the stupid tree and hit every fucking branch on the way down." Shiro grumbled.
"He'll be heartbroken!" Ichigo said in mock horror.
"He's lucky his face didn't get broken when he gave me this." Shiro replied, stretching. "Let's start heading back. I'm sure there are already a shit load of troublemakers for you to deal with when you get back."
"Yeah, let's go collect the reward then. Got any extra loot from the monsters?" Ichigo questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Hm, picked up a couple of rings, a necklace, and a bracelet. These buggers were filthy rich. Look at this diamond!" Shiro said, holding out one of the rings to Ichigo. Ichigo examined it and nodded.
"Send one to Yuzu and Karin. I'm sure they'll like them. Or at least Yuzu will. Maybe a new soccer ball would be better for Karin…" Ichigo trailed off, handing the ring back to Shiro.
"Let's stop by some shops to get these cleaned and polished, then buy Karin a ball on the way to the guild." Shiro said, stuffing the jewelry in his pants pocket.
"Sounds like a plan." Ichigo replied. "Let's hurry then."
They used Sonido and Flash Step to quicken their travel to the village.
"What?!" Lucy exclaimed, dropping her pen. "Let me see that!" She hissed, snatching the poster from Natsu. She examined it carefully.
WANTED:
Ichigo Kurosaki
Alive- 50,000 Jewels
For Various Criminal Activities
His picture was put below the words, with his description put in smaller words below that.
Lucy's hands trembled as she held the parchment, and she read over it again. Various criminal activities? What does that entail? Lucy thought.
She glanced around the guild for Master Makarov. He was in his usual place on the bar top. She quickly stood and grabbed Natsu by his scarf and dragged him over to Makarov.
"Master, look what Natsu found." Lucy said, holding out the poster. Makarov took it and looked it over, eyes widening.
"What the hell…?" Makarov muttered.
"Pleasure doing business with you! Have a wonderful monster-free day." Ichigo said, shaking hands with the village chief. The chief smiled and waved as they left the large hut.
"Well this should be enough to last us for the month." Shiro said, eyeing the briefcase Ichigo held.
"Maybe. But half of it is going into the guild's funding." Ichigo replied, frowning.
"Aw, what? Why does my hard-earned money have to go into helping those fuckers?" Shiro complained.
"If my memory serves me right, I do believe you're the one that destroyed two tables, three chairs, ate six meals, destroyed a door, broke four bottles of vodka, and smashed our communication lacrima crystal." Ichigo listed, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh right…" Shiro grinned remembering his destructive rampage. "That was fun."
"Fun my ass! I had to deal with everyone's bitching about you." Ichigo grumbled.
"You know you're my favorite big brother in the whole world, right?" Shiro said, grinning.
"I'm you're only big brother, so that doesn't mean much. Especially since that title comes with a 70,000 Jewels price tag." Ichigo said frowning at his twin.
"What about being Yuzu and Karin's big brother?"
"I'm happy to claim that title. They don't get into trouble like you do." Ichigo replied.
"I'm hurt, Ichi." Shiro gasped mockingly.
"Oh shut it. Let's hurry to town to get that jewelry cleaned and buy the soccer ball." Ichigo said.
"Fine." Shiro grumbled.
They both used their respective magics to hurry to the nearest town.
"Rukia! Look at this!" Renji called, pointing at a poster on the side of a building. Rukia walked over at looked at it, her eyes widening.
"Take it with us. Captain-Commander Yamamoto will want to know about this." She said, moving so Renji could pull it down.
"What the hell is the idiot doing to piss off the council now?" Renji muttered, folding up the poster and pushing it into his jacket pocket.
"Hey, Shi! Look at this one! It's the same ball the pros use." Ichig said, holding up a box with a soccer ball in it.
"Put it in the cart! I'm busy looking at these cleats. What size shoe does Karin wear?" Shiro called back, down a few aisles.
"7 ½!" Ichigo yelled back, setting the ball in the basket.
"Could you perhaps quiet down a bit? You're disturbing other customers." An employee said, bowing.
"Oh. Sorry, we'll quiet down." Ichigo apologized and bowed back. He walked down the aisles to where Shiro was at. "C'mon."
"Alright. Think these are okay?" Shiro asked, holding up a box of red soccer cleats.
"Their fine. Let's go."
They took their items up to the register and paid for them, then left.
"Let's take the train from here. It'll be faster than on foot." Ichigo said, pointing at the train station.
"What, tired already?" Shiro questioned. Ichigo shook his head.
"It's just a pain in the ass to Flash Step with bags." He explained, heading towards the ticket booth.
"What an excuse." Shiro complained, frowning.
"Shut up." Ichigo growled, paying for the tickets. The train was conveniently already there; set to leave in two minutes.
Shirosaki laughed as they boarded the train.
"Could someone please explain to me why the fuck everyone is staring at us? I mean, I know I'm handsome, but that doesn't mean I want to be stared at like I just shit a litter of kittens and barfed a fucking rainbow!" Shiro hissed towards his brother.
"Shi, we're covering in dirt and blood, and our clothes are in shreds. Not to mention that creepy ass mask and the sword on your back and the sword on my hip." Ichigo whispered back.
"Tch. Feels like fucking elementary school all over again." Shiro muttered.
"Just take a nap. I'll wake you when we get there." Ichigo said, pushing his brother's head on his shoulder.
"You know it's only a forty-five minute ride, right?"
"Then you only get a forty-five minute nap! Now go to sleep!" Ichigo snapped.
"Fine…" Shiro muttered, closing his eyes.
"When the fuck do those idiots plan on coming back?" Grimmjow growled, pacing.
"Grimmjow calm down. I'm sure Master is already on his way back." Harribel said calmly.
"Calm? I'm perfectly fucking calm. Do you not see how calm I am?" Grimmjow asked, gesturing wildly. After a few moments he sighed and paused in his pacing. "I'm going to take a nap. Call me when they get back."
"Sure thing Grimm." Nel said smiling as Grimmjow headed upstairs.
"So what should we do about Shirosaki?" Zommari asked, staring at the wanted poster sitting in the middle of the table.
"What can we do? He's probably going to try to race off to murder every single person on the Council for this." Szayel drawled.
"He's not that stupid, I hope. That'll just make things worse." Harribel crossed her arms as she spoke.
"He's done lots of things that are extremely stupid and dangerous, though." Nel pointed out.
"If things get out of hand I will restrain him." Ulquiorra offered.
"I will put a time barrier around the premises to prevent him from leaving until he's calm." Barragan added.
"Okay. Now all we can do is wait for them." Nel said.
"We'll go make dinner in the meantime. Does pasta sound good?" Dondochakka asked, standing from his seat. Everyone gave nods with various levels of enthusiasm.
"Right-e-o!" Pesche chirped, skipping to the kitchen with Dondochakka behind him.
"Silence!" Yamamoto yelled, and the arguing among the Captains stopped. "Now, 3rd Seat Rukia Kuchiki. Lieutenant Renji Abarai. Come forth and explain."
The pair stood from their kneeling position on the floor and bowed. "Yes sir. We were on our way back from an exorcism, and I noticed a wanted poster on the wall of the local magic shop. Upon closer examination I saw it was a wanted poster for Substitute Ichigo Kurosaki." Renji explained.
"Do you have proof of this?" Yamamoto asked. Rukia and Renji nodded.
"Yes, Captain-Commander." Rukia replied, holding up the poster where everyone could see.
"I see. This could be a problem, seeing as we are in his debt, and if we were to do nothing it would soil the honor of the Soul Society." Yamamoto said, leaning back in his chair.
"So what will we do?" Kyoraku asked, adjusting his hat.
"The only thing we can do. We will send assistance to Ichigo Kurosaki, to help defend him from the bounty hunters which will no doubt be after him. Anyone who wishes to join this group may. Spread the word." Yamamoto ordered.
"Yes Captain-Commander." Was the response.
"Good. This meeting is over." Everyone began filing out of the room, muttering.
"We're finally back." Ichigo commented as they walked down the street. They were getting quite a few stares, and the crowded street seemed to be parting for them.
"Are our clothes really that bad?" Shiro asked, looked down at his filthy shirt.
"Yeah." Ichigo replied, nodding.
"Psht. They act like they've never seen blood before." Shiro grumbled.
"Whatever. At least we didn't toss the shirts and walk around shirtless." Ichigo muttered.
"That'd be funny. Twin teenage boys walking down the street shirtless with filthy blood stained jeans? We'd get the authorities called on us. Again." Shiro said, laughing.
"God, don't remind me. That was such a hassle." Ichigo groaned as they rounded a corner.
"Hey, race you to the guild." Shiro grinned, pointing down the street at the guild.
"You're on." Ichigo challenged. "No magic?"
"None."
"Alright. Let's do this." Ichigo said, getting into a starting position.
"Readysetgo!" Shiro shouted, and they took off, scaring the shit out of people along the way.
In a mere forty seconds they were at the doors of Hollow Moon, panting.
"Who won?" Ichigo asked, glancing at Shiro.
"It was a tie." Shiro muttered, standing up straight.
"Damn." Ichigo cursed, reaching up and pushing open the door. "I could have sworn I touched the top step before you." He said, walking inside.
"You're imagining things, Ichi. It was a tie." Shiro replied, frowning.
"Hey guys, we're ba – what?" Ichigo asked, stopping.
"Ichigo…there's something we need to show you." Nel said, her face serious. Ichigo's earlier grin switched to a scowl.
"What is it?" He asked, taking note of the people in slow motion on the other side of the guild.
"This." Harribel said, holding up the wanted poster.
Both Ichigo and Shiroskai froze, reading it.
"Those fucking bastards." Shiro hissed.
AN: Alright! Finally some plot advancement. Sort of. And a cliff hanger. The best way to piss you guys off. c:
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, most of the reviews made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. . Which of course led me to updating today instead of Monday.
YAY! Okay, so, remember! Vote on the poll! Review! Favorite! Follow!
Monday, July 8th is the cut-off date for the pairing vote. Whatever has the most votes will be picked. ^-^
Ciao~!
Luci-chan