I've got to warn you guys about this chapter, because there are spoilers for anything past the bount arc. So those of you who are watching Bleach on Adult Swim, and have yet to get past episode…um…I wanna say about 110 to be safe…there are some things that you might not get, such as the progression of hollows to higher forms, arrancar, and all that season mid5-7 stuff. It's not much in the way of actual spoilers, but I just thought I'd warn you.
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The trio had arrived at a flat spread of land not too far away from the 9th squad headquarters. Atop the nearest hill stood what looked like a warped menos. Although it was still larger than an average hollow, its body was small than a menos grande, and more compact. The arms were more human-like, and the mask was red instead of white. The Entarce let out a loud screech that caused everyone within hearing distance to cringe.
"Alright, let's get this over with." Anju sounded grumpy, yet confident. She called forth her sword and stared down the loud beast. It looked right back at her, and disappeared from the mountain. Sighing, Anju stepped foreword and disappeared herself.
Ichigo drug Rukia over to a nearby tree and stood with his arms crossed. "I said quit lookin at me like that. She'll be fine. It's just a menos. Besides, we'll get to see her fight." Ichigo had a sincere interest in Anju's fighting abilities. As strong as she was, she was only a child. She didn't have the experience and years of knowledge that the other captains had acquired.
Anju's sword met the menos' arm, and left a deep gash. Screaming, the menos whipped itself around and swung at her. Finding that she was too fast to hit easily, the menos turned to use its cero. Anju easily dodged the red beam, but now realized that she was fighting far too close to her friends to be safe. In an attempt to draw the menos away from her audience, she faked a few attacks, and drew the menos further away from the 9th squad buildings. Much to her dismay, she saw both Rukia and Ichigo following her. Knowing that they could handle themselves, she ignored them and went back to attacking the hollow.
"Breathe, Zanasazi." Anju released her sword and used it immediately to remove a chunk of the flat land behind the menos, causing him to fall over onto his back as he tried to back away. Taking advantage of his shock, she swooped in and aimed for his mask. To her surprise, the hollow had disappeared again. She assumed that it was simply trying to run, and chased after it. As she came close to him again, he phased out of the dimension, and caused Anju to stop dead in her tracks. Menos entarce had never been able to travel through dimensions before, so where had this one gone?
Ichigo appeared next to Anju, sporting the same confused expression that she was. "What happened?" he asked with no hint of fear in his voice. His question was answered, not by Anju, but by the screech of the menos. Anju turned in time to see the menos swinging his arm down toward an unexpected Rukia. The next few seconds passed by in slow motion. Ichigo yelled in Rukia's direction, but it was too late. The menos had come back into their dimension only a few feet behind Rukia.
Without even thinking, Anju immediately used her power to raise a large block of land in between the menos and the suddenly aware Rukia. The menos' arm came down toward the earth, making a high-pitched whistle as it fell. The floating chunk of dirt would not be enough, and everyone knew it. However, it had slowed the blow enough to allow Anju to make her way underneath and reinforce the block with her own body. In a display of power greater than any previously seen from a menos, the entarce's sharp clawed hand carved through the earthen guard, and into one of Anju's arms.
Rukia was still frozen in shock. As the scene unfolded in front of her, she felt almost weightless. As her senses came back, she realized that she was, in fact, no longer standing. Ichigo had physically removed her from the danger zone, and was now on his way back to help the injured little girl.
Anju hadn't even cried out when the sharp claws had met her arm. Rather, she yelled behind her, "Ichigo i've got this. Take care of Rukia!" And with that, the battle resumed. Ichigo froze mid-stride, paused to consider her words, and made his way back toward Rukia. Within ten seconds, the battle was over. Anju had used a strong current of wind to knock the menos over as it was trying to escape to another dimension, and had shattered the mask with an almost simple flick of her sword. As the menos was vaporizing, she hopped back toward her worried friends. She pulled a ribbon from the end of her sword, using it to wrap around her injured arm.
"Are you guys okay?" She didn't even seem to notice the pain from her arm, flinching only when the ribbon tightened at the middle of the cut.
"Us? Seriously, you're worried about us? Anju your arm has been sliced open! We need to get you to 4th squad." Rukia couldn't believe that the girl was actually worried about others, even though she was the one who was injured.
"It's not that bad. I've had worse" Anju sighed and finished up her wrapping job. "Alright. Let's go find someone to fix this. Freakin menos. Can't even get some sleep…" Ichigo had not said a word since he had returned to Rukia's side. The look on his face was indescribable. It seemed to Rukia that he was trying very hard not to express any hint of emotion whatsoever. Worried, she tried to hold his hand. She received a rather rough squeeze of her hand in return.
It took only minutes to reach 4th squad. Captain Unohana had started healing Anju's arm, but wanted her to stay the night in the medical unit. Ichigo and Rukia left her in the capable hands of the healers, and returned back to the Kuchiki house. Ichigo had remained silent, and Rukia was beginning to worry about him. Something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what.
Upon returning to Rukia's room, Ichigo stopped at the door. "I think I'm going to sit out here for a while." His voice was quiet and subdued. Rukia noticed something painful hiding behind his eyes, and decided not to press him right now.
"Okay. I'm going to shower." She turned to leave, and caught her name floating across the air behind her. She turned to see Ichigo, arms crossed, brow furrowed. "Did you say something?" She was sure he had said her name in a whisper, but he simply nodded no and left, closing the door behind him.
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Though Rukia had purposefully taken a while in the shower to give Ichigo time to sort out whatever he was feeling, he had not re-appeared by the time she had gotten out. Hoping that she could help, Rukia set out to find Ichigo. She didn't have to look for long. He sat at the base of a tree outside the back entrance to the Kuchiki house. At first, Rukia feared to approach. Ichigo was sitting with his hands on his face, silently contemplating something. After a moment of indecision, she walked up to Ichigo and spoke softly.
"Ichigo…" He looked up at her in surprise, having not heard her approach, and she noticed for the first time the great amount of pain reflected in his eyes. Taking a moment to analyze the situation, she sat down and looked at her hands. "Is there something wrong? I mean, you've been really open and upbeat all day. But ever since the battle…well you've been quiet. I can tell something's wrong." He looked away from her and tried to hide the embarrassment in his eyes. "Please. I'm worried." Her voice was almost as sad as the look on Ichigo's face.
"You'll probably just laugh." He still wasn't looking at her, afraid to reveal the emotions he feared he couldn't hide.
"Have I laughed at anything you've said today?" Recalling the day's events, Rukia double checked the list of conversations they had had. She got a negatory head shake, and continued. "I thought that, considering the way we've been talking today that you would maybe trust me…" She lowered her head in shame, thinking that he might have changed his mind on how to treat her. She was only too surprised when he looked her directly in the eyes and confessed what he was feeling.
"I almost lost you today." His fists clenched and he leaned his head back against the tree. Rukia was taken aback. Had he really been that worried about her? "It just kind of made me realize…how stupid I've been. How clueless." He paused and tilted his face in her direction. "I'm sorry for…everything. Calling you names, making fun of you, yelling at you…all of it. I never meant any of it." His confession was so heartfelt that Rukia had to hold back her tears.
"Ichigo…I knew you were just kidding. I never really took any of that personally. Besides, half of it was because of me. I antagonize you far too much." She gave a light laugh. "I won't hold any of it against you, if you'll return the favor." Her smile was too blissfully kind for Ichigo to not return. He sighed and moved his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. She let her head rest against his shoulder.
"Deal." They sat in silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying the time spent together in peace. However, an odd question soon pressed its way to the front of Ichigo's mind. "Um, Rukia? Where exactly am I supposed to stay? We don't need to be back in the real world for a few days, and I was hoping to stay here. A few days vacation would be nice."
"Hmm well there's always my floor…" she said as if she meant it. Ichigo could tell that she had hidden the sarcasm in her voice though, and knew exactly how to respond.
"Your floor, eh? I'll show you the floor…" and in a moment of lightheartedness, he rolled over and tackled Rukia to the ground in a fake wrestling match. She caught on quickly and managed to squirm out of his grip and force him onto his back, pinning his shoulders down to the ground. Unfortunately for her, he knew that she was ticklish, and his fingers attacked her sides, causing her to double over and roll off of him. He took advantage of her state and captured her arms, holding both of her tiny hands in just one of his. The match would have gone on longer if Ichigo had not been distracted by a dark line on her face.
Immediately he released her and moved his hands to inspect the out of place mark. His left hand gripped her chin while the fingers of the right flew to the offensive spot. Rukia stopped mid-giggle and looked at him with surprise. "What are you doing?"
"There's something on your face. Did you get scratched?" The look of sincere concern on his face made her heart quicken.
"Not that I can remember. It doesn't hurt…" Not that she really would have noticed. Ichigo's touch was very distracting. His thumb ran over the dark area on her cheek and came away with a dark spot of its own. "What is this? Dirt?" He inspected the spot closely, causing Rukia to take in a sharp breath. His face was inches from hers and she actually forgot to breathe for a minute. An unexpected touch shook her out of her temporary reverie.
"Here, I'll get it." Ichigo licked his finger and scrubbed the dirt off of Rukia's cheek. "I think I got it…" He leaned closer to double check. It was far too dark to tell without a close inspection. "Yep. All gone." Without a thought, he left a gentle kiss on the newly cleaned spot. Realizing what he'd just done, he froze. How on earth was he going to get out of this one?