Months they spent together.
More than a few, but not quite a year.
Always where she went he followed.
Friends came to visit.
Family came to visit.
All left the same.
With pity in their eyes.
With guilt in their eyes.
With fear in their eyes.
But not her.
He watched her, supported her as best he could.
Never did she look at him with pity.
Never did she look at him with guilt.
Never did she look at him with fear.
He was damaged, not broken, and she understood.
She let him work.
She let him help.
She treated him as she always had.
She accepted him unconditionally.
He grew to love her for it…
Captain Kuchiki's eye's imperceptibly narrowed.
He had managed to find a small clearing in the woods just outside of town that was littered with devices and contraptions that could only have come from the Soul Society, but something wasn't right. Obviously this place had been set up as a distraction. No one was here, and there was just enough residual rietsu to lure him here, but not enough to track them to their new location.
The situation was quite vexing.
Then the stoic noble felt one of his fellow Captains release his Shikai.
Elsewhere…
"… Hyourinmaru!"
Minamoto realized only too late that the sudden charge the young Captain before him had performed was only a feint. When Toshiro Hitsugaya jumped back and called out to his Zanpaktou the conspirator knew that he had made a very costly error in allowing his opponent to put some distance between them.
The temperature dropped again, only this time instead of just getting slightly colder the air around the combatants fell to well below freezing, growing dry as the moisture was drawn away. The very air Minamoto breathed suddenly grew sharp and crisp, biting with cold and frost.
The conspirator had fought many battles in his long career as a Soul Reaper of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, but none of them could have prepared him for the ferocity of Hyourinmaru.
Hitsugaya did his best to conceal a grunt of pain as he swung his blade down. The moisture in the air froze at his command, taking on the familiar form of a mighty dragon of ice. Using his Shikai one-handed wasn't as effective as his normal two-handed approach, so his attack fell more slowly than it should have.
But it lost none of its raw power.
Hyourinmaru's draconic visage lunged for Minamoto, and the conspirator belatedly realized that he had best get the hell out of the way. His dodge came only seconds too late, allowing the Captain's Zanpaktou to freeze his right side from shoulder to hip.
Never before had Minamoto experiences such biting cold. The flesh where the ice dragon had touched was completely numb and unresponsive, but where the unfeeling flesh met the rest of his body there was an intense burning sensation as though a fire had been lit between the frozen and unfrozen parts. Minamoto quickly raised his spiritual pressure as high as he could manage, trying to force out as much of the foreign rietsu as possible in an effort to unfreeze himself. He was only marginally successful as most, but not all, of his right side suddenly erupted into sharp needles.
Satisfied at having at least partially recovered, the conspirator quickly re-aligned his gaze to the Captain before him and shivered uncontrollably, but not just from the cold.
Captain Hitsugaya had raised his sword again.
And Minamoto was in no condition to dodge.
The conspirator looked into his opponent's eyes and nodded his assent. Hitsugaya was young, but Minamoto knew that he had earned his place as Squad Ten Captain. The boy was determined and loyal: he would serve the Soul Society well in the centuries to come.
Dying by his hand was acceptable.
Minamoto had made his peace with his fate, but before the blade could fall a shockwave of raw spiritual pressure struck them both. The sudden burst of energy knocked the wind out of the two combatants, who quickly forgot about each other as they felt the very air begin to seethe…
The conspirator came to his sense first as he stretched his senses through the writhing mass of power and just barely managed to feel out the retreating rietsu of his companion, Rui, heading in the direction of the Schism's clearing.
That could only mean one thing.
Rui had succeeded.
Otherwise, he'd be dead.
With one last glance back to the Captain that had nearly killed him, Minamoto mentally tipped his hat to the young man before Shunpo-ing after his comrade as quickly as his injured body could take him.
Meanwhile, Hitsugaya swallowed nervously, trying to decide whether he should chase after the fleeing Minamoto or find out what happened down on the ground. After all, he'd recognized that spiritual pressure; by now just about everyone knew it. It was heavy and firm, bright like the sun and searing hot to the senses, but belied a hint of dark, writhing malice.
It was Ichigo Kurosaki.
Elsewhere…
The Substitute Soul Reaper had been so focused on getting to the fight so he could help that he didn't even notice how he'd rushed out of sight of his friends. He wasn't quite using Shunpo, but at the rate he was going nothing short of it could catch him. So when Ichigo barely felt the burst of energy commonly associated with the various speed techniques he'd just figured that one of his friends had gotten tired of lagging behind.
That is, until a burst of pain exploded from his back.
His reaction to the assault was instinctual. Ichigo's spiritual pressure skyrocketed as he reached for Zangetsu, grasping the hilt and barely unwrapping the sash that served as the blade's sheathe before swinging the gargantuan Zanpaktou out, forcing the unknown assailant back and away from the teen's blind-spot. Turning to face his attacker, Ichigo was almost dumbfounded to find a Soul Reaper drawing his sword and preparing for a charge.
As the man rushed in blade first and the Substitute quickly blocked, locking the blades together in a battle of strength. The teen had half a mind to chew this guy's head off for assaulting him from behind like that, but before he could demand to know what the hell was going on Ichigo realized that whatever this Soul Reaper had first attacked with was still stuck in him.
The pain from the injury was starting to make itself known, and concern and confusion quickly turned to annoyance as Ichigo stepped forward with his right foot and used his weight and brute strength to pull his arms around, swinging Zangetsu in an arc that sent the stranger flying. With his opponent momentarily out of the way, Ichigo reached back without really thinking, grabbed whatever it was that was sticking out of him, and ripped it out.
The teen immediately felt light-headed as he drew the object before him. It wasn't a proper weapon, just a strange cylinder with four sharp prongs on one end. For some reason that angered the Substitute as he flung the object away in disgust, letting it come to rest near a tree a few dozen feet away.
By this time his assailant had recovered, preparing to charge again despite the long crack that had formed in his Zanpaktou from blocking Ichigo's earlier strike. The teen stood his ground while ignoring the odd woozy feeling he had, but was surprised and only further confused when his opponent actually Shunpoed away from him… and to the odd cylinder he'd just cast aside.
By then Ichigo's friends had finally managed to catch up, and Rui realized that he needed to get going before one of them realizes what he's up to. Fighting Ichigo Kurosaki had been one of the riskiest parts of the entire operation, but thankfully the teen hesitated upon seeing his opponent was a Soul Reaper and not a Hollow. The conspirator quickly scooped up the canister now holding nearly an entire Captain's worth of Ichigo Kurosaki's Spiritual Pressure before sparing one last glance back to the confused Substitute, sending him a wolfish smile before disappearing in a fit of Shunpo.
Ichigo stubbornly tried to follow the Soul Reaper that had the audacity to attack him and then take off, but quickly realized that chasing after the coward wasn't an option. The teen swooned on the spot, and if it wasn't for his arms quickly impaling Zangetsu into the ground and using the blade for leverage the Substitute would have fallen to the ground.
Taking in a shuddering breath while trying to collect himself, Ichigo looked up to see his friends quickly closing in on him, and he ground his teeth before swallowing his pride for what he was about to do. In his current condition Ichigo knew he wasn't going anywhere right now.
But he wasn't the only fighter in the group.
"ISHIDA! RENJI! Go after him! NOW!"
For a moment the Quincy and the Squad Six Lieutenant paused, stunned by the commanding tone in Ichigo's voice. Neither was used to the teen actually giving orders, so they stood their stupidly for a second before Uryu shook his head and examined Ichigo more closely.
And what he found scared him.
The Quincy grabbed the sleeve of Renji's shihakusho and dragged him in the direction the rogue Soul Reaper had fled in. Whatever that man had done to the Substitute, it had drained him of so much power that the teen could barely stand. Furthermore, the fact that he had fled means that killing Ichigo was not his objective. That Soul Reaper probably had a use for all of that extracted power…
And that could not possibly be good.
As the two more mobile members of their group began pursuing Ichigo's attacker, the teen himself was quickly finding standing to be more and more difficult. Before he could pass out Orihime got close enough to begin healing him, much to the Substitute's relief. The wound itself was minimal, a work of mere seconds, but the more debilitating injury had been to his spiritual pressure. So much had been drained that Ichigo couldn't keep himself from panting.
And then Toshiro Hitsugaya arrived.
The Captain was a sorry sight indeed. His left sleeve was gone and there was an angry line of red beneath where the cloth was rent. Where the wound had been bleeding there were now streams of frozen blood flaking off with every movement, the injury no longer leaking thanks to the frost covering the gash. He was in obvious pain, but somehow keeping it suppressed as he quickly strode towards the group of concerned friends.
Ichigo winced at the injured Captain before gently glaring up to Orihime, nodding his head in the direction of their hurt friend. The healer hesitated for a moment, worry in her eyes, before swallowing it down and nodding her assent. Shuno and Ayame immediately released the only half recovered Ichigo from Souten Kishun before reforming it around Toshiro Hitsugaya.
Right now, the Captain needed it more.
Oh my…
We've hit the half-way point.
Only Ten Chapters remain.
…
By the way… does anyone else think the word sanguine is pretty?