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Creatures of Myth: Hidden Enemies
Chapter Fourteen: Operation Inoue, Phase One
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"My best friend gave me
The best advice
He said each day's a gift
And not a given right."
-If Today Was Your Last Day, Nickelback
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Orihime sat out in the gardens. It was about midday, but the skies were light gray and cloudy. There was a certain quality to the air, making the breeze seem cool and wet. Yet, on her skin, it was refreshing. She had decided to wear clothes from the Living World today, a long, flow-y light pink skirt and her favorite tee-shirt, the pink one with the three little white things near the collar.
She sat on a stone bench, near a lower part of the wall where she could see over it. For a stone bench, it was rather comfortable. Maybe it was enchanted or something. Maybe it was made of, like, special stone that only the Youkai knew existed that was really soft! Oh, then could there be plants that only Youkai knew about? What if there was a plant that could… make you fly! Or… or… a plant that could allow you to shoot lasers from your ears! That would be really cool.
Excited by the idea, Orihime stood and began inspecting the plants more closely. She didn't see anything she hadn't seen before. Orihime frowned, disappointed. But maybe they only grew under certain conditions! Yeah!
Well, at least she still had hope. She sat back down on the bench and pulled her charm out of her shoulder bag. It looked like a little fox, made with magic and a little bit of fur from each of Rentaro's nine tails. It was about the size of her palm, and weighed about the same as a small doll. After Hikaru-san had finished with the enchantment to keep it all together, Chinatsu grabbed it and – rather roughly, actually – shoved in an odd, blue-ish stone. She said that, along with its original purpose of warding off minor Youkai, it would amplify her Shun-Shun-Rikka's abilities so that she'd be able to heal more than superficial cuts and bruises on herself. Now, should, say, her arm get cut off (Yeah, real creative), she'd be able to reverse it.
The wind suddenly shifted, coming in strong from the east, blowing the talisman out of her hand and through one of the slots in the fence.
Orihime gasped. She doubted that Chinatsu-obaasan had another one of those gems, and as much as he had tried to hide it, Rentaro didn't seem to enjoy losing the fur.
Hastily, she stepped over to the wall and dropped her hands and knees, dirt getting on her skirt and hands. She slid her hand through the slot, the rusted metal opening only barely wide enough to fit her hand, let alone her arm. She stretched, straining to grasp the little doll. As she realized that the attempt was futile, she pulled her arm out of the hole, scratching it only slightly.
She stood up straight and dusted off her skirt, giving the short, easy to climb wall the stink eye. As long as she was on Soma lands, she was safe from any major Youkai coming to get her and eat her or steal her from the Kitsune. She'd only be over there for a few seconds to grab the talisman, so seriously, what could happen? Despite the fact she was on Youkai lands, she was still in Seireitei, so none of the minor Youkai would immediately warp out of nowhere and start chomping at her. What could go wrong?
Carefully, she threw one leg over the wall, using her hands to pull herself up. Hefting up her other leg, she slid off the fence and landed steadily on the tiled streets of Seireitei. Quickly, she bent over to retrieve the little doll, her hand clasped around the soft little charm and she returned it to its rightful place in her bag.
Mission accomplished.
She turned, then gasped, her path blocked by the sharp steel of a sword. Her eyes followed the blade to its source, a greenish-blue eyed woman dressed in spring green clothing with spiky black hair that fell just past her ears. Her face, oddly, reminded her of Ulquiorra, with that nearly unreadable expression that almost seemed sad at times, and markings the same color as her clothes covering her eyelids and twirling across her forehead. "You will come with me, Senka Maiden," she said, her voice airy and… sad.
Holy crap, déjà vu!
The wind whipped up to the point where she thought it was going to carry her away. "Oh," the black-haired Youkai woman started, "And… I'm sorry."
And they were gone, carried away by the wind.
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Tatsuki slipped on her oven-mitts, carefully pulling the door down and removing her precious apple pie. She returned the door to its original position and set the pie on the counter, not even waiting for it to cool before cutting a slice. Instead, she set the slice in the freezer for a minute before removing it, its heat effectively countered by the intense cold of the refrigerator. She grabbed a fork from the drawer and took a careless bite of pie. She figured she was going through about ten pies a week. But who cares? She wasn't fat, she was pregnant. There was a huge difference.
Suddenly, the wall next to she was crashed in.
She jumped, almost dropping her pie, but thankfully she regained her balance in time to save it. "What in the world!" she exclaimed.
Through the rubble, a figure stepped in. It was a woman, her head of long, pig-tailed black hair held high. She clinked as she stepped, for it seemed that the woman had an odd taste for gold jewelry, with a wide, gold choker and huge gold hoop earrings.
Tatsuki immediately grabbed a not-so-decorative Katana from its perch on the wall, unsheathing it and throwing the leather scabbard aside. "Who the hell are you?" she screamed.
As the woman walked towards her, the air around her got colder and colder until Tatsuki could see her breath.
The woman spoke, her voice cold as she spoke in clipped tones, "My name is unimportant at the moment." The ice blue marks that framed her eyes and lined her brow didn't move as she spoke. Her icy blue Hakama pants swayed lightly as she took her slow steps towards the armed woman, the long, loose sleeves of the same color shifting as she walked. "From what I have been told, I'm assuming that I shan't be able to convince you to accompany me without a fight, and, quite frankly," her face twisted in a sinister grin as she unsheathed her sword took one last quick stride, swinging the sword across her body. Tatsuki easily parried the blow. "I don't mind a bit," she finished.
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The Substitute Shinigami ran through the streets of the Fifty-Third District of East Rukongai alongside his old friends Ikkaku and Yumichika. Even if the fight between the Tengu and Kitsune was over for now, that didn't stop the minor Youkai from causing chaos. They'd been assigned the tedious task of clearing out the demonic creatures. By "clearing out," though, they meant "indiscriminately slaughter." They'd seen some crazy shit out there the past few days, but even then they couldn't believe what they were running from.
Another burst of flame destroyed the buildings behind them. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" it roared.
Their path was suddenly blocked by a giant bird's foot, and it roared again, the thing's crippling roar shaking the ground. "Dammit! There's no out-running this thing!" Ichigo shouted.
Yumichika flashed up next to him. "We're going to have to fight it!" he yelled back.
Ikkaku appeared on his other side and grinned, "Well, I'm not too sure about you sissies, but I've got no problem with that course of action! SPILT APART, HOUZOKIMARU!" He charged at the thing.
"WAIT! IKKAKU, WATCH OUT FOR THE-" Yumichika started as the thing bent over and began furiously… um… pecking at him. "… beak," Yumichika finished lamely.
Madarame swung at the huge, fire-breathing chicken's beak to no avail. Ichigo sighed. He better help him before he hurt himself-
"KUROSAKI ICHIGO!" came an unfamiliar voice.
Ichigo turned to see a silver-haired man dressed in dull gold running towards him. "I'm a little busy, here!" he said as he grabbed Zangetsu and swung it toward the "Basan" as that Ao had called it when she briefed them on the different kinds of Youkai that could be in out here, "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" he yelled as a wave of bluish energy shot at the thing. It hit, of course, but was seemed to have no effect on the chicken as it continued to peck at Ikkaku.
Wordlessly, the mystery man, a Kitsune, Ichigo decided based on his hair and attire, walked passed him, nine tawny tails surrounded by wild crimson reiatsu flowing out behind him. He stood straight, eying the monstrous bird sternly. He pointed and his feet, "DOWN, BOY!" he shouted.
Head perking up comically, the thing looked at the Kitsune and clucked.
"DOWN, MATILDA!" he repeated.
The Basan complied, plopping ungracefully on its bottom.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Matilda?
Ikkaku lay sprawled out on the ground with only a few minor wounds and maybe some serious bruising, but the thing must've hit a pressure point or something, because his face wouldn't stop twitching. "You see, Ikkaku, this is what happens when you rush into battle like a clumsy buffoon," Yumichika scolded.
"SHUT IT!" he retorted.
The Kitsune turned back to Ichigo, and for the first time Ichigo noticed how damn desperate this guy must be, "Kurosaki-san, I'm Soma Rentaro, you've probably heard of me. Your friend Inoue Orihime has been under my protection for the past few days," he spoke quickly with an urgent tone, "but early this afternoon, she disappeared from the gardens has been missing since," Rentaro seemed to choke on his words for a moment, "I – I can't smell her, sense her, anything! Please, you've got to help me find her!"
"Orihime's in missing?" Ichigo asked astonished. Suddenly, his Soul Pager/cell phone rang, the chorus of "Stay Beautiful" by Diggy-Mo playing, indicating that he was being dialed from his home phone. Tatsuki must've lost her cell phone. "One minute," he held up a finger and pulled his phone out, holding up to his ear.
"Moshi-moshi? Tatsuki?" his eyes widened as the audio reached him, "Suki?"
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"OH NO YOU DON'T, BITCH!" the woman shrieked as she knocked the corded phone from her hand.
Tatsuki turned and socked the cold whore in the face with a nasty right hook. She was pretty sure she'd gotten Ichigo on the line. Hopefully he was hearing this.
"Goddammit, get out of my damned house!" she screamed at the woman before pulling on her mask, the only thing she could do while in her human form.
The ice bitch dropped and swung her legs upwards, "Not with you!" Tatsuki dodged the kick and retaliated with a roundhouse kick worthy of fuckin' Chuck Norris. The woman took the hit in the face, and Tatsuki felt the woman's nose break.
"Shit!" she shrieked as she stumbled backwards, clutching her nose. She threw Tatsuki an angry glare as she growled. "ENOUGH OF THIS IDIOTIC FOOLERY!" She held her hands out in front of her and simply shrieked. Tatsuki braced herself as the wall of concentrated air hit her head on, throwing her into the wall. She slid downwards, her muscles going limp and the Katana dropping harmlessly at her side, her mask shattering.
"There! Now let's see you fight me now, bitch!"
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"Tatsuki? Tatsuki!" he yelled. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Wasting no time, he hung up and pressed his number three speed dial. As soon as he heard the click of someone picking up, he started talking. Shouting, actually. "Lillinette, wake up Starrk."
"But-"
"RIGHT NOW."
"Eeep! Okay, okay, you got it, King!"
A few moments later, a sleepy voice yawned into the receiver. "Mmm?"
"Starrk, gather up all the remaining Espada and meet me in Karakura," Ichigo commanded.
"Eh? May I ask why?"
Ichigo clawed at his hairline. "Somebody kidnapped Tatsuki!" He heard his Primera's quiet gasp. Without warning, the Arrancar hang up. Good. He understood the urgency of the situation.
"Excuse me, Kurosaki-san, from the sound of this, we may be facing the same enemy," the Kitsune suddenly interjected. "All of us. First Shimizu Hakyu went missing, then my 'Hime-chan, and now your Tatsuki-san."
"First, the Espada and I are going to search Karakura. We'll send word if we find anything, and if we find nothing, I'll return to Soul Society immediately," Ichigo paused, "With three of my most dedicated, loyal, and strong warriors."
The Kitsune narrowed his eyes. "So we have little to worry about?"
Ichigo made a sound reminiscent of a snarl. Did this guy know what he sounded like? "Are you insane? We have a shitload to worry about!"
Rentaro's eyes widened, but he nodded before running off.
Ichigo glance back to the two members of the eleventh division. "Hey guys! I've got some things to take of in the World of the Living! When you head back to Seireitei, tell everybody, Orihime and Tatsuki have gone missing!"
They nodded seriously.
Ichigo ripped open a Garganta and hopped through, closing it behind him.
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A/N: Yay! Now the real action starts! And we get to see some epically badass Ichigo and three currently unnamed Espada. In this story, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Szayel, Halibel, Starrk, and Nelliel Tu Oderschwank all survived. And as of Unmasked., one of those is Canon! Good for Halibel (Although it seems more realistic that Grimmjow would survive, but Kubo must obviously be smoking something, so I'm gonna let it go XD)!
So… for first real fight scene ever (Tatsuki vs Nazo Chikaru), how did I do? It was kinda short, but it's the quality that counts! ^.^ I wanna know your opinions!