Chapter Nine

Monday marked another week of school for Ichigo. It wasn't that bad, the day went pretty well—his math sensei explained that since Hoshiko started tutoring him, his grades were improving dramatically. For the first time Sensei actually said he looked forward to grading the next upcoming test, which was something he usually dreaded. Classes flew by easily and after school Hoshiko came by and continued to tutor Ichigo and prepare him for the test. Tutoring was going well as usual, Ichigo was pretty much answering the questions by himself and just needed guidance on a question of two. An hour passed as Hoshiko seemed tired and decided to lie on Ichigo's bed while he practiced more problems. When he was done, he turned around from his desk and found her fast asleep—she looked especially beautiful to him with her features relaxed in slumber. Ichigo smiled and stood up from his desk, he made his way over to the bed and reached to pull a blanket over her. Just as he tucked her in, she sleepily opened her eyes and looked at him. Their eyes locked for a few moments before she smiled at him and spoke,

"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you. I've just been a little tired lately."

"It's fine, I don't mind. Take a nap, I'll work on my science homework while you sleep then I'll walk you home." Ichigo replied leaning in to kiss her cheek. Just as his lips touched her face, she slightly turned and grazed his lips with her own. Ichigo was caught off guard by the movement, but soon moved in closer and slowly pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss. His hand moved into her hair, holding her head gently in his hand. Her fingers intertwined with the sheets as Ichigo deepened the kiss between them, his tongue snaking out to brush against her bottom lip. Upon instinct, her lips parted. Her tongue twitched against his, brushing against him curiously, almost afraid if she acted, he would pull away. To her surprise, he didn't pull away, he started returning the brushes and encouraged her to do more. Just as she continued to explore his mouth, she suddenly stopped and her breath caught. Ichigo thought he did something wrong by her actions—she looked like she was suffocating, her eyes widened and her grip on the sheets tightened,

"Hoshiko! What's—"suddenly a powerful reiatsu rushed over him, it was the same reiastu like before, Arrancars. Soon Rukia busted through the door and held her cell phone tightly. She felt the Arrancar also,

"Ichigo,…Renji called he needs our help. It's an emergency." She lied as she looked at Hoshiko. Ichigo stood up and quickly figured out something to say to Hoshiko.

"Hohsiko, I need to—"

"It's okay, I'll just grab my things and head home and it's late anyway. I hope everything is okay with Renji." She jumped off the bed and packed her backpack. Quickly she kissed Ichigo good night and left his room.

"We need to go, now!" Rukia commented as she released her soul from her gigai and headed for the window. Ichigo quickly did the same and left his body on the bed before he followed her. As they were running, Rukia found the location of the reiatsu, "There is more than one of them and Renji and the others are already in battle.

"Which way are we headed?" Ichigo asked

"We're bond to find one if we keep going this direction." She replied. Ichigo continued to follow her, but he suddenly stopped when he saw Chad engaged with an Arrancar. Ichigo ran towards them and interrupted the fight just in time to save Chad from a fatal blow. But just as the Arrancar removed his hand from Chad's chest, blood started to seep through his shirt. Ichigo told him to go home, this wasn't his fight. Despite his protests, Chad did as his friend said and left them to fight. Ichigo withdrew his Zanpaktou, but Rukia raised her hand to stop him.

"I'll deal with him."

~Rooftop not far from Ichigo and Rukia's location~

She watched intently as Rukia fought with the Arrancar—she knew Renji and the others were fighting as well, but her agenda was to make sure Ichigo was safe. She would have engaged with the Arrancar herself, but her orders were simple, protect Kurosaki Ichigo at all coasts but never allow him to be aware of her presence. That plan had been working out well—she had been keeping the town Hollow free for weeks and each time Ichigo arrived after the work was done. But this time, she was too slow to get to the action. She should have reacted faster and already disposed of the Arrancar. For the moment all she could do was watch Rukia fight with the Arrancar and hope that Ichigo never involved himself. So far her wish was coming true—Rukia released her Zanpaktou and successfully defeated the Arrancar. Just as Rukia went to replace her Zanpaktou, they all stopped as a new spiritual pressure was now weighing down on them. She fell to her knees on the rooftop, while still in her gigai she couldn't resist the pressure. She wondered who it was and prayed it wasn't coming Ichigo's way. Standing up she looked down and saw another Arrancar making his way towards them. All she could see was teal blue hair and a sinister smile. This guy was out for the kill.

Like her, Rukia and Ichigo watched the guy carefully, his reiatsu was ridiculous. Rukia had to hold her balance as he slowly descended from the sky and landed a few feet away from them. She took this as an opportunity to get closer to them. From another roof top she could hear their conversation, but still remained out of sight.

"What the hell, D-Roy's been killed?" the teal haired Arrancar stated sarcastically while looking at Rukia closely. Rukia looked uneasy by the intensity in his eyes. She watched him carefully, she wasn't sure what he was looking for, but she knew Rukia and Ichigo had to find a way around him. He was powerful; she feared he was even more powerful for them to deal with.

"Where is she?" the Arrancar asked, Rukia and Ichigo looked at each other

"She?" Rukia asked, suddenly the Arrancar was in front of her and impaled her stomach with his right hand

"You're not the one I'm looking for." He commented as he looked down at her, "I guess I'll just have to draw her out some more." the Arrancar smiled wickedly as he locked eyes with Ichigo—he was angered by the sight of Rukia impaled on the Arrancar's hand. She gritted her teeth at the sight as well, that bastard! She thought as she looked at Rukia who was coughing up blood. He looked excited while his hand lifted her off the ground. Was he trying to make Ichigo want to fight him? Suddenly, Rukia screamed allowing more blood to escape from the corner of her mouth. The Arrancar smirked at the sight,

"There is nothing more attractive than the sight of a woman bleeding from my hands." He commented, her blood was boiling now; she hated men like him and personally wanted his head. But as long as there wasn't a directed assault on Ichigo, she couldn't get involved. And she needed some kind of cover before she interfered.

"Let her going!" Ichigo suddenly yelled as he aimed his Zanpaktou at the Arrancar. Smiling, the Arrancar threw Rukia to the ground, "Rukia!" Soon Ichigo was running at him, but the Arrancar's reiatsu blew him back. After getting his balance back, Ichigo went in for the attack, but the Arrancar stopped it with just his forearm and tossed Ichigo aside.

"Damnit!" Ichigo cursed as he rolled to his feet and appeared to be planning another way to attack the Arrancar

"Quit yankin' my chain Shinigami. I don't wanna waste my time killing you, I came here for your bitch." The Arrancar said

"What?" Ichigo asked narrowing his eyes at him

"The fuckin' so called Beautiful Slaughterer. I want her to show herself." He replied, her eyes widened at that name. It had been years since someone called her that, it had to be Aizen who gestured to her by that name, only someone who was around before her captivity would know her by that name. Anyone else would never call her that more or less know who she was. But why was he looking for her? What had Aizen said to spark this asshole's interest in her? Why was he only after Ichigo because of her? She figured there would be no way around him; he meant he was going to draw her out one way of another. Ichigo ignored what the Arrancar said and appeared to be moving in for another attack, but slowly he brought his hands together on his Zanpaktou.

"BANKAI!" she should have known better, like Ichigo would actually go down without a fight. A part of her wanted him to run to safety, but another side wanted him to give her a reason to take the Arrancar's head off. However, for the moment all she could do was watch Ichigo reveal his Bankai to the Arrancar as the fight ensued. Ichigo was giving the Arrancar a pretty good fight, he got in a few hits with Getsuga Tenshou, but the Arrancar seemed to be toying with him. He wasn't really fighting him. Soon he turned the tables and became incredibility fast. His hits became harder and Ichigo was being knocked around from streetlamp to streetlamp. While Ichigo was trying to rise to his feet, the Arrancar stalked over to him and grabbed him by the neck.

"I'm gettin' tired of this. Where the hell is the woman! Ya nothin' but a punching bag for me." The Arrancar stated, "Do I have to put holes in you like I did the Shinigami over there for her the get the balls to face me."

"Screw yourself! I don't know what you're talking about, but right now I'm still your problem." Ichigo replied, this caused the Arrancar to laugh. She now had her reason to interfere, but now she needed to find an opening that allowed her to do so without letting Ichigo see her. She gritted her teeth as Ichigo became a punching bag for the damn Arrancar. With a vicious uppercut and left hook, Ichigo was sent flying. But as the Arrancar flashed to the side of him, Ichigo was hit hard in the back and sent back to the ground with a sickening thud. That was it, quickly she released her soul from the gigai and let it remain on the rooftop watching what was about to happen.