AN: Thanks for the reviews. It's strange I only ever get them overnight when staring at the reviews page all day doesn't help O.O
Ok, so this part is starting to come to an end, and then it'll be the Ryoka Invasion part. A preview (not the beginning of the arc) will be shown below.
Edit: Oh, damn, sorry. Forgot the preview. Baka. Sorry.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
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Jidanbo was bored out of his mind.
Normally, peace in the Rukon District would be a relief, but for a guard like him, who has to watch over the place 24/7, it gets really old after a while. If it were the more dangerous districts like Kusajishi or Zaraki, he'd have at least something to do.
Damn it, he didn't care whether it were Hollows, Arrancar, or in some unlikely case even ryoka, he'd finally get some action, even if it's just to sharpen his axes.
He yawned. "So boooooooring…" He heard a knock on the wall behind him.
"Um… Jidanbo-san? Are you there?"
Jidanbo turned to look at the wall. "Yeah. Who is it on the other side?"
The person on the other side said, "Could you open the gate for us, please?"
Jidanbo shrugged. If it came from the Seireitei, it would probably be shinigami. Rubbing his hands together, he reached down to the bottom of the gate.
He lifted the gate a little bit, allowing the person, well, two people through.
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Soifon was surprised to come in to her vice-captain's office and finding him actually working.
Working his ass off, actually. The place was not as messy as she saw it before. There were actually large patches of floor where there wasn't any paper, and all the sheets of two-year ago paperwork was gone. Omaeda was working at a hurry at the table.
"How the heck do I do this… aah! Captain!" he was so shocked at seeing his Captain that he almost fell off his chair.
"This is a surprise, Omaeda. I didn't think you were physically or mentally able to work this hard."
Omaeda saluted her hurriedly. "H-hai, Captain! I'm just doin' my job as vice-captain of 2nd Division and your subordinate!"
Soifon smirked. "But what about your other duty?"
Omaeda sweated. "O-other…?"
"From what I remember, you have a job as the leader of the Patrol Corps. What happened to that job?" She glared at him.
"H-huh? B-but…?" he looked at the letter Kumo left for him.
"Well, it's good that you're trying to finish as soon as possible. By the way, since you seem so enthusiastic about finishing paperwork, I'll let you do mine as well. It's sitting in the box behind my desk. I expect it finished by tomorrow." She began walking out the door.
"W-what?" he looked at the paper, at Soifon, then at the paperwork. When the Captain left the office, he ran over to the window and screamed out at the top of his voice.
"DAMN YOU, KUMO! YOU FRIGGIN BOOGER! COME BACK HERE! I'LL TEACH YOU TO TRICK ME!"
The whole of 2nd Division, and probably a few others, could hear him.
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Jidanbo lowered the gate again, relaxing his arms. "Man, Sekkiseki is some heavy stuff." He looked down.
"Hi, Jidanbo-san!" Hinamori called up, waving her hand.
"Well, It's Hinamori-chan! How've ya been doin'? It's been really dull withou' you comin' to chat with me all day." Jidanbo smiled down at the tiny girl.
Hinamori stopped waving. "I'm sorry, I didn't think being a shinigami would be so busy. But hasn't Shiro-chan come over recently?"
Jidanbo scratched his head, and sat down to get closer to us. "Well, Toshiro-kun is… well, you'll see. His grandmother will be happy to see ya. She's been much healthier recently."
Hinamori nodded. "Ok. Come on, Kumo-kun! Shiro-chan's home's nearby."
As we ran off, Hinamori pulling me by the arm, Jidanbo got back up and scratched himself. "She'll be in for a surprise…"
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"…and my home is right here! See, it's quite nice. It's a bit bigger than most houses in Junrin'an." Hinamori said, pointing.
The house was certainly much better than the rundown shack back at Inuzuri. There was even a garden. Hinamori opened the gate.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" she called. An elderly woman came out of the house, smiling when she saw Hinamori.
"Oh, it's Hinamori-chan. It's been a while." She said.
Hinamori bowed slightly. "I'm really sorry I couldn't visit you more. Besides, Toshiro acts like he doesn't like it when I come back too often."
Toshiro's grandmother laughed. "I know he doesn't mean it. Is this your friend?"
Hinamori pushed me forwards. "This is Kiyashi Kumo-kun. He was one of my friends during the academy. Come on, say something, Kumo-kun!"
I spoke nervously. "Err… nice to meet you."
The elder smiled gently. "Come in. It's probably going to rain outside soon."
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The rain began to drop down after a while. The sky darkened, while Hinamori and Toshiro's grandmother closed the windows and lighted a candle.
"It is nice for you to come and visit me. It's been quite lonely for me recently." The elder said, pouring tea for all of us.
Hinamori picked up her cup. "Lonely? Why? Has Toshiro been out a lot? Come to think of it, where is he right now?"
The elder looked down. "Well… a few days ago, about a week, Toshiro met a shinigami lady out at the market when he was buying food, and then, next morning, he said that he was going to go to the Seireitei to go to the academy."
Hinamori almost dropped her cup. "W-what? Go to the academy?"
"Why?" I asked.
The elder shivered a bit. "The young lady visited me a couple of days later. She said that Toshiro had power, but because he couldn't control it, it was flowing out of him and freezing me. She said that if he hadn't gone, I would have died."
Hinamori bit her finger. "That's terrible… Shiro-chan really had that much reiatsu?"
The elder drank her tea. "Toshiro told me… about how he was going to become a shinigami so he won't hurt me, and about a strange dream he had, about a frozen cavern and an enormous ice dragon."
"A dream? About an ice dragon?" I looked at my zanpakutō, Kurokage. Could it be…
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Jidanbo hated rain. Mainly because there was no shade on the White Road Gate to protect him from it, and he can't leave the gate to get an umbrella. Not that there was ever an umbrella big enough to cover him.
A Rukongai villager came over to him, four more following, dragging an enormous pole covered in cloth.
"What is that?" Jidanbo asked.
The villager helped pull the object over. "Ah, Jidanbo-san. It's for you. We saw that it was going to rain, and we couldn't leave you like this, so we made it." They undid the rope, and released an enormous umbrella, big enough to cover someone as large as Jidanbo.
Jidanbo picked up the umbrella. "Thanks, you guys. You're all mighty nice to me around here."
The villagers picked up their own umbrellas. "Of course, Jidanbo-san. We here in Rukongai don't like the shinigami, but everything you've done for us here in Junrin'an has been kind. We were just trying to repay you for it."
"Ok, thank you for the umbrella. Now…" a sudden burst of reiatsu interrupted him. "This reiatsu… Hollows? From the size of it… Menos Grande? Four of them?"
"Jidanbo-san, what's wrong?" a villager asked.
Jidanbo looked down at them. Oh, that's right, they can't sense reiatsu. "Run away! Go back to your houses and block the doors! Hollows are attacking!"
All the villagers gave a look of fear, and began to run away. Jidanbo dropped the umbrella and pulled an axe out of his shihakusho. "Right, now I have to wait for them to come here…"
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Renji and Kira were playing a game of dice with the redhead having a huge losing streak, when the reiatsu took their attention from the game.
"T-this reiatsu! They're hollows!" Renji got up and tied his zanpakutō on his sash. When he saw that Kira just looked at him, he pulled his friend up. "What's yer problem? Did you forget? Hinamori went to Rukongai today to visit her family! She's in danger!"
The fear in Kira's eyes were replaced with shock. "H-Hinamori-kun…!"
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Our conversation with Toshiro's grandmother was rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Menos. Ignoring the rain, we ran to try and find the source of the reiatsu.
"Why would Menos attack the Rukongai? And how could they come to Soul Society?" Hinamori asked me.
I didn't look back. "It's probably Arturo… but I don't sense his reiatsu. It's likely he hasn't fully recovered yet."
Hinamori picked up her pace. "But they're Menos! What could we do?"
I clenched my teeth. "I don't know… we'll have to do what we can."
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A member of the Riteitai ran to Soifon. "Soifon-taichou! Signs of Menos reiatsu have been detected in West Rukongai! They're advancing towards Junrin'an!"
Soifon didn't turn to look at them. "I know. I can sense them clearly." She looked out the window, past the rain.
"What should we do, Captain?" a shinigami nearby asked. "Should we send a squad of the Keigun to get rid of them?"
Soifon shook her head. "There is no need. 3rd Seat Kumo is in that particular district right now. Even if he can't handle them… the other squads are making their move."
She could sense them. They were on the way.
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"Four Menos Grandes…" Hinamori stared in fear at the towering Gillians, stomping with their enormous bony feet.
I drew my sword. "Hinamori-chan, step back. I don't want you to get hurt by these guys."
Hinamori didn't move. "B-but, Kumo-kun! What could you do?"
I ignored her. "Obscure… Kurokage." My sword stained black, and the reiatsu emitting from it changed patterns.
"That's… your sword release?" She looked at the blade. "I haven't even started communicating with mine yet."
I turned my head. "That's why you need to stay back." I used shunpo to get closer to the Menos. I need to take them down one by one.
The Gillian in front of me charged. "Bakudo No. 30, Shitotsu Sansen." Three triangular spears of light formed in front of me, flying at the Gillian and pinning him to a wall.
I had to get rid of one or two before the first got free. For the second Gillian, I aimed for the legs, intending to disable it. Narrowly dodging a kick, I aimed for its tendon, but the cut was too shallow. The leg swung back at me, the creature's heel catching me.
I grunted in pain, but I was close enough for a deeper stab. The Menos howled in pain, its leg useless, but the direction it dropped meant it would fall on Hinamori.
"Hinamori, get away!" I screamed, but she surprised me with her next movement.
She held her hands up in the air. "Hado No. 1, Sho!" her Kido was strong enough to knock away the hollow falling like a log.
"Hinamori-chan…" I was at a loss for words. She drew her katana.
"Please… let me assist you!" she begged. I nodded, having no time for thought. A red glow behind her made me suddenly react.
Hinamori turned to see the cero being fired by the Menos still trapped in the Kido.
When I used shunpo to appear in front of her, I was intending to take the hit for her, but instead, the blast was stopped by a deep violet glow from my blade that expanded into a large black portal that swallowed the cero.
"What…" but before I had time to think, my sword almost pulled my hand and pointed the tip at the Menos, opening a similar portal and firing the same cero, except black. Completely black, with no reflection or glow. Almost like a blot the sun can't touch.
The Menos was blasted to oblivion by its own attack.
"What was that?" Hinamori asked, shivering from seeing the cero and the counter.
I looked at Kurokage, thinking the same thing.
Gyakuryū. A voice echoed in my head. Its name is Gyakuryū.
I breathed heavily. The opening of the strange portal had strongly exhausted me. I had been completely unprepared for the aftershock, and fell to the ground.
"Kumo-kun!" Hinamori cried, trying to pull me back up. The Menos closed in.
I was tired, and felt that I could not react fast enough to stop them from killing us. I could hear ceros charging.
A sudden breeze of cold air, and the rain turned cold.
"Drift away, Sōsen."
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AN: Ooh, who could the mysterious savior be? I think you readers are smart enough to know. Anyway, a new power of my OC's Kurokage.
Gyakuryū (逆流) roughly Reverse Flow: Similar to Ukitake's zanpakutō in principle. Absorbs attack, and fires it back. But there are three differences. 1) The attack is not really absorbed, but actually moved to an alternate dimension, so there's no limit, unless the attack is too large ranged. 2) There is a time limit to the attack. The dimension can only hold the attack for a few seconds before having to be fired back. If reaction time is slow, then the attack will be wasted. 3) The attack is not really the same, it's just a reflection. Because of that, certain immunities to that attack may or may not work unless it's immune to all attacks of that type.
Oh, and like you may have noticed, it really tires Kiyashi out. It takes a lot reiatsu to maintain a connection to the alternate dimension.
Sōsen (霜川) literally Frost Lake: An ice/water type zanpakutō. That's all I'm going to say. Its powers will be shown soon. Just wait for the next chapter.
Please R&R!
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I leaped off my perch, high above the three of them. They were surprised as I jumped down.
"There you are." I said. "Leader of the Ryokas, usurper of Rukia Kuchiki's powers. Ichigo Kurosaki-dono."
The orange-haired shinigami put his hand on his oversized zanpakutō. "Who the hell are you? How do you know me?"
I pulled Kurokage out of its sheath. "You don't need to hear my answer."
The ryoka grinned. "Is that so? Then… I'll just hafta beat them outta you!" He charged at me.
I watched, slowing down his movement with my eyes. "You're slow." With shunpo, I disappeared and reappeared behind him, ready to slash him from behind.
"I'll finish this myself."
