Chapter 22: Meet Again
* Imitates Mushu from Mulan* I LLIIIVVEE!
*clears throat* Sorry for the delay (if anyone noticed or cared) but school got busy and things that were not school related had to be put on hold. Please review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, just the OCs.*
Kariya felt the disappearance of Maki Ichinose's reiatsu and surprised himself by truly feeling a tiny pang of loss. Ichinose had been always a loyal man. Perhaps the only Soul Reaper Kariya ever tolerated despite his hatred for them.
Pity the most loyal member of Kariya's band died.
He was likely killed by a Soul Reaper, perhaps that Zaraki person Ichinose had sworn vengeance against. Ichinose was too strong to be taken down by a measly Hollow.
"I can't feel Ichinose's reiatsu," Koga said.
"Yes," Kariya hummed. "It seems he's dead. Such a shame."
Another member of his group, his family, lost to those of Soul Society. We will kill Aizen and then the rest of these filthy, arrogant Death Gods. Then your death Ichinose and the deaths of the others will not have been in vain.
Kariya pulled himself together and spoke, "The entrance should be around here."
The benefit of having a Soul Reaper work for him was that Kariya became privy to insider information concerning Soul Society. Such as their secret entrances and escape routes, not to mention the captains and lieutenants that resided inside. Granted, the information may be slightly dated, but since Soul Reapers tended to live longer it was highly unlikely anyone new came into those high positions.
The three men and woman came upon a gnarled, petrified looking tree with its roots weaving through the earth. The white haired man laid his palm on the rough, aged wood, "This must be it."
Yoshi studied the tree with a slight scowl, "How is a dead tree going to get us into Seireitei?"
Their leader's mouth briefly quirked upward at her familiar impatience. Despite how long Bounts can live some traits about each of them never changes. "This obviously is no ordinary tree."
He bent down and grabbed hold of the point of a thick root that was sticking up out of the ground. He twisted it sharply three times; a rusty click was heard with each twist. After the third twist a low, soft rumbling could be heard as a section of ground moved away, revealing an aged stone staircase that descended into darkness.
A secret passage that was devised centuries ago to secretly enter or leave Seireitei, Ichinose had been the one to know about this little entrance. He had heard of secret tunnels in Seireitei once in passing and decided to do more investigating. The labor of which bared useful fruit.
Kariya swept his arm toward the stairs, "Shall we?"
Rukia twirled her snow white blade and felt the familiar rush of cold air blow through her as she called her attack, "Tsugi no mai, Hakuren."
The Shikai attack was weaker than it customarily would have been, a sign that her powers were still recovering. But the avalanche of snow and ice that burst forth was still strong enough to freeze and kill the three mediocre powered Hollows in front of her.
The Hollows here were fairly weak, but they were numerous. She leapt into the air and ran her sword through another Hollow. A loud roar sounded behind her, but before she turned around to defend herself a wave of shimmering pink flew past her. Before she could understand what was happening, something picked her up and whisked her away.
The diminutive Soul Reaper opened her eyes that she hadn't realized she closed and found herself cradled in her brother's arm.
"Brother…"
Byakuya Kuchiki calmly glanced down at her, "Are you unharmed, Rukia?"
She nodded, dazed from being spirited away and his concern of her well being, "Yeah, I'm fine."
He said nothing, but there seemed to have been a glimmer of relief in his eyes as he set her back on her feet. Rukia watched her friends fight from up on the roof, they stood on.
Ichigo leapt out of the way of a reptilian Hollow's incoming claw and he swung his sword and cut off the creature's hand. The monster roared and Ichigo took that chance to cleave its mask in half. The beast stumbled back and nearly squished a cowering child when Chad quickly scooped the child up and spirited him away. He handed the child off to a grateful looking woman who hugged the boy dearly.
"There were Hollows appearing in immense numbers throughout nearby Districts. Do you know if any of the Bounts have the ability to summon or attract Hollows?" Byakuya asked Rukia.
She shook her head, "I don't think so."
Her violet eyes spied a familiar head of cherry red hair. Renji swung his shikai and dispatched a Hollow that was getting too close to Orihime. He swung again and his sword caught three extra in its attack which took care of the last of the swarm of Hollows.
Renji looked around and noticed someone was missing. "Hey, where's Naoko?"
"She's right…" Ichigo was about to point somewhere, but noticed the female Quincy was nowhere around. "Uryu, where's Naoko?"
The Quincy looked around and noticed his sister was nowhere to be found. He could've sworn she was right behind him.
"You lost your sister? !" Ichigo exclaimed when he realized the Quincy had no idea as well.
"I'm her brother Kurosaki, not her keeper! " Uryu snapped. Panic and worry were swelling in his chest and he did not need Kurosaki annoying him right now.
"Who is it that has gone missing?" The noble lord politely inquired.
"Oh, Naoko has Captain Kuchiki. She's Uryu's long lost little sister," Orihime informed.
The aristocratic captain blinked slowly, "I see." He turned to his adopted sister, "There are others captains in this area, and it is possible that one of them may find her instead of the Bounts. If they do there is an excellent chance that she will be taken back to Seireitei."
"As what? A prisoner?" Uryu asked with some sarcasm. He may have developed some trust towards the Soul Reapers he knew, but the mistrust he had held towards them as a whole for so long was still there.
"Currently we Soul Reapers have no quarrel with Quincies; there is no reason she would be treated as such. Unless she were to be hostile and attack, then it would perhaps be possible that she would be incarcerated."
Everyone paused and thought for a moment.
"Well," said Ichigo." I'm sure we know where she'll end up."
Naoko jolted awake.
Something had woken her, but she couldn't identify what. She blearily looked around, but detected nothing that could have caused her sudden awakening. She did, though find herself still hanging onto Captain Zaraki's massive shoulder. When the adrenaline from her fight with Maki Ichinose wore off, she found herself becoming increasingly unsteady on her feet, the activities of the past two days finally taking their toll.
When Yachiru noticed she suggested Naoko ride on Zaraki's free shoulder. Naoko weakly and sheepishly protested, but Zaraki picked her up and deposited her on his shoulder. She mumbled a thank you and made herself secure before nodding off.
Now that she was awake, she rubbed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair.
"Did you have a good nap Puppy?" Yachiru asked happily.
Naoko yawned, "Yes, I needed it." A slight power nap though, and it didn't compare to an actual night's rest, but she had a feeling she might not get that for a while so she would take what she could get. "Are we there yet?"
"Straight up ahead," Zaraki grunted.
The Quincy girl looked to see a sprawling city made up of clean white buildings topped with gold roofs. In the center she could see a cluster of towers rise above the buildings and a cliff was situated next to the towers. Naoko blinked and slowly absorbed the grandeur that was Soul Society's central hub, Seireitei.
"Whoa," she breathed.
"Yeah, it's really pretty isn't it? It was one of the reasons Kenny and me came here. It's a lot nicer here," Yachiru told her.
"Nicer? What do you mean?" Naoko asked. This was supposed to be Heaven, right? Shouldn't the entire place, not the center, be nice to live in?
"She means that Seireitei is a hell of a lot better than the shitty ass District we came from. You were in the Fifth District so it didn't look so terrible, but the farther you are from Seireitei kid the worse it gets," Zaraki explained.
Naoko didn't know what to say to that. Yoruichi and Urahara never actually talked to her about what Soul Society was like and she never thought to ask. She was saved from having to comment though when they came upon the massive white stone wall and were allowed inside by a giant of a man.
The teen beheld people clad in black robes just like Renji and Rukia's going about in a quick borderline frantic manner. Numerous people didn't pay much mind to Captain Zaraki except to pointedly stay out of his way. Some though, did stare at the sight of Naoko hanging off his shoulder. Feeling embarrassed at being stared at Naoko dropped down from her perch and trotted beside the large man.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"Back to my Division, ya' can stay there until we find Kurosaki," Zaraki replied gruffly.
Seeing no better plan Naoko followed. The journey proved to not be long as they soon passed through a gate signified as the entrance to the Eleventh Division. Here when they passed people they stopped and bowed to the captain. Naoko stuck closer to the captain, plenty of these men looked ready to pick a fight with anyone who so much as looked at them wrong. While she might be up for a fight some other day now she was too tired and preoccupied with finding her brother and the others.
"Baldy, Feathers! We're back! And we brought a friend!" Yachiru hollered happily to two men up ahead.
One was taller than the other and had a distinct lack of hair while the other Naoko instantly recognized.
And judging by the look on his face he recognized her too.
"Captain, Lieutenant, how'd it go?" The tall, bald man asked.
"Che, disappointing. We found Ichinose," at hearing that both men gave a slight gasp of surprise. "He was still the weak little bitch he was then. Not much of a fight."
"But it wasn't that bad, we brought a new friend," the little girl lieutenant added.
The Soul Reaper familiar to Naoko coughed as a way to cover up the surprise on his face, "We can see that Lieutenant, who is your lovely looking new friend?"
"This is Puppy!" Yachiru gaily introduced. "Puppy this is Baldy and Feathers."
Naoko sheepishly corrected, "Actually it's Naoko Ishida. And what are your real names?"
The bald man tilted his head in acknowledgement, "Third Seat Ikkaku Madarame."
The shorter man beside him, gave a gentlemanly bow, "Fifth Seat Yumichika Ayasegawa."
"Now that everyone's knows everyone," Yachiru hopped off Kenpachi's shoulder and grabbed Naoko's hand. "Let's go eat, Puppy. I'm starving."
At the mention of food Naoko felt her stomach growl in delight. When was the last time she ate? Yesterday? Either way, she was starving and could eat a horse… or two.
Sakura sat on the edge of her bed with her sword laid across her lap, one hand gripping the sheathed blade while the fingers of the other were busy drumming the hilt. Her ears still rang with the announcement that was broadcasted hours ago.
A unique group of Ryouka has invaded Soul Society and everyone was to be on alert if any were to get into Seireitei.
Sakura knew exactly who it was that had come to town.
Her fingers stopped their rhythmic drumming and tightly gripped the hilt instead. Kariya and his cronies were here. His purpose for being here mattered not because he was going to die, preferably by her hand, at the end of all this.
Do not go looking for trouble. Nothing ever ends well when one does that. It certainly did not end well for you the last time you did so, Kasumi cautioned firmly.
Sakura sighed; she knew her weapon had a point. To be fair you know I didn't go looking for trouble on purpose last time. I went in search of them to save my children.
And if that occasion should ever arise again, at least this time you will be better prepared, Kasumi agreed. But only if.
*I know this was short, but I wanted to post something to show you guys I'm still alive and (somewhat) kicking. I'll update again May 20th.*