Chapter 26: Re:The Meeting
Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.
A/N: Sorry for the late update, folks. Was sick for a few days… still sick even now, in fact, but not as feverish and roaming between wakefulness and sleep...
…
Chapter 26
Re:The Meeting
…
"Yeah. What Hiroshi meant was in exchange for a power boost, we take on the traits of mindless hollows." Kyo said grimly.
After this statement, Karin watched with growing dread as Sho too, climbed into the chair without the slightest hesitation. As the needles plunged into his dark skin and started the injection, Sho threw his head back from the pain, but made no sound, bearing the pain better than Akito had. When he rose from the chair, he also looked more muscled: even more so than Akito. The previously gentle boy cracked his neck and flexed his fists experimentally. His eyes, however, looked less eerie than Akito's.
'Maybe his kind nature won through…' Karin hoped.
Somewhat surprised, Sho turned to Akito. "Hey, you're right. It does feel kinda good after the initial shock."
Akito replied angrily, "Why the tone of surprise? Were you thinking that I would be wrong? "
The Sho from before would have denied this, but not the Sho now. Crossing his dark arms, Sho looked at Akito straight in the eye. "Yes."
Hearing this reply, Akito, who had definitely become more aggressive after the procedure, grabbed Sho's collar and hissed, "Say that again."
The bigger Sho shook him off easily. "You must admit that you have a tendency to exaggerate things. No need to get so offended." He narrowed his eyes. "Or do you want to settle this by force?" And Sho was also definitely no longer as genial he had been before.
In fact, it was like watching two alpha males fighting for the head spot, Karin thought.
"Now, now, you'll get plenty of chances to fight later. Let us continue." Hiroshi turned to Ryou expectantly.
Ryou gazed at the machine pensively. She seemed to be weighing the pros against the cons, trying to decide whether to stay in the line or not. Finally, she stepped purposefully out of the line, having decided that the cons outweighed the pros.
"Sorry, I don't particularly want to become an incredible hulk." She said simply to Hiroshi.
Though Karin got the feeling Hiroshi was rather displeased by Ryou's decision, he shrugged and replied, "Your loss. You're always welcome to return."
Karin got the general gist of what Ryou meant. Even she would think twice if she changed appearances like that, and Karin considered herself rather disinterested in the vanity department. Hikari, however, who seemed to think she had nothing to lose, stayed in line. Nevertheless, she trembled as she stepped forward into Hiroshi's (and the machine's) waiting arms.
Hiroshi beamed and sat Hikari down. "Don't worry about your appearance." he assured her.
Gripping the seat tightly, Hikari nodded, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. Hiroshi started to pull the lever down. Hikari screamed before the needles even touched her body, causing Hiroshi to freeze in mid-action.
Akito snorted. "If you're that afraid, then just join the other cowards over there."
His condescending tone antagonized Hikari, firming her resolve once and for all. "I'm not a coward! Keep going, Hiroshi!"
Smiling, Hiroshi did exactly as she said and yanked down the lever before Hikari had a chance to prepare herself. All the needles pierced her body, and she let out a blood-curdling scream, even more anguishing than the one she had let out before. It only grew in volume when the power was injected into her.
When she finally emerged, she was a head taller than before – almost as tall as Karin now – with a manic glint in her eyes. Slowly, her head turned toward the members of Group Exile who hadn't gone through the transformation yet, and she surreptitiously licked the corner of her bottom lip. Kohaku backed away.
From when he had first witnessed the results of the 'power boost,' Kohaku had looked uneasy, but after the latest and most drastic change in Hikari, he looked absolutely terrified. "Okay! I think that this steroid stuff is just scary. I'm out."
For the first time since Karin had met him, Hiroshi frowned. Seeing his beautiful face set in an unhappy face expression, Karin felt her blood briefly run cold.
"Only three people?" He looked around as if he expected more people to step out. He turned to Karin. "Karin?"
Kyo stepped protectively in front of her.
With what looked like an incredible effort, Hiroshi forced a grin. "Well, once you guys see the powers that these three have gained, you'll change your minds. Let's head over to the training room." He planned to pit the people who had gone through the transformation against those who hadn't.
"Nothing we can't get with thorough training, I'll bet." Kyo muttered under his breath as they walked across the hall.
As if he had heard this comment, Hiroshi turned on his heel and said loudly, "Let's pair up these three with another three brave enough to face them." He glanced around, a small smile gracing his face once again. This time, Karin thought had a sort of smugness behind it. "Any volunteers? No?"
To his surprise, all of the remaining members, even Megumi, stepped forward. His smile becoming rather fixed, he chose three of them. In the end, Ryou, Kohaku, and Kyo, were paired with Sho, Hikari, and Akito respectively.
The first pair that Hiroshi selected to fight was Ryou versus Sho, but as Karin watched from the wall with the others, given Sho's personality, even taking the transformation into account, she thought that the spar would end without bloodshed.
Ryou summoned her weapon, *Kika, which materialized in the form of black calf-high boots. When Karin had initially sparred against Ryou, she had first underestimated the power of these boots and been dumped on her behind – literally. Not only did the boots allow Ryou to execute kicks - if well-aimed - that could destroy organs in the body, but also allowed her to travel at even faster speeds than sonido.
Next was Sho. Pre-transformation, his weapon had been a large, plain broadsword. But the weapon Sho summoned now looked like it had been wrought in the depths of hell; the steel was dark and twisted. Though Ryou looked a little surprised at the changed appearance of Sho's weapon, she remained relatively calm, even indifferent to what it implied.
Grinning fiercely, Sho attacked first.
Not only had his appearance changed, but he had gotten faster too, Karin noted. But for all his enhanced speed, he could not catch Ryou, who had Kika to boost her speed, so he hacked uselessly at her afterimages.
After a few minutes of fruitless chasing, Sho changed tactics and abruptly stopped moving. 'He's waiting for Ryou to come to him,' Karin realized.
At last, Ryou began her counterattack, and started out by tossing a bunch of hollow bullets his way. Sho dodged one, and negated the other. Literally a blur in the air, she kicked at him, she fired a cero that Karin had only recently mastered, which Sho also negated.
"C'mon Kunieda, fight me properly." he said lazily.
Out of nowhere, a foot shot out towards Sho's chest. He put his sword just in time to block it; it would have smashed into him, had he not been prepared for a head-on attack. But Sho was unprepared for the following kick from behind him, which hit his neck, throwing him forward several meters.
Dust rose up, obscuring the group's view of what had happened.
To Karin's right, Hikari commented, "What a shame, I wish I could have had a bite out of her first."
Karin found these words very odd, and not because they were talking about Ryou like she was food, either. And apparently she wasn't the only one, as Kaoru pointed out, "Uh… Hikari-neechan, it was Ryou-neechan who won."
Hikari snickered at this. "Oh, it's not quite over yet."
She was right. After the dust had settled down, Sho remained unscathed, and his sword was nowhere to be seen.
Ryou narrowed her eyes and in a flash, was right in front of him, ready to deal him another blow, but Sho had prepared for another attack. Out of nowhere, his large twisted sword rammed down between Ryou's neck and shoulder. Blood spurted out from her wound, and Ryou stared, disbelieving, as she fell back.
The Sho preceding the transformation would never have purposefully dealt a such a severe wound to his comrade - no matter if it could be healed. But he now stood in front of Ryou, bloodthirstiness dripping from his eyes, and he raised his sword to deal the finishing blow.
Uttering a cry, Megumi ran out from the wall and dashed to Ryou's side.
"Ryou-neesan!" Facing Sho, she spread her trembling arms, in a valiant motion to protect Ryou. Tears streaking down her face, Megumi's words tumbled out. "Sho-kun! Please! Have mercy on her!"
As if Megumi's words had made him regain his senses, Sho slowly lowered his sword, staring at the bleeding Ryou with the sobbing Megumi before him.
His eyes, now empty of bloodlust, widened. The dark sword disappeared and Sho stumbled back, horrified of what he had been about to do. He had been ready to kill the one woman who hadn't ostracized him when he had first been inducted into Group Exile.
Flashback
Hikari and Akito, the de facto leaders of Group Exile, had ignored him at first. Kaoru, who was younger, just followed their lead, as did the shy Megumi. But one day, Kaoru asked, "Hey, why are we ignoring Sho nii-san? Is it because of his dark skin?"
Seeing how Sho was nearby and probably could hear every word, Hikari had shushed Kaoru, but her face told the truth. Hurt that he faced discrimination even in Hueco Mundo, he turned his back to the group.
But Kunieda Ryou, her nose almost always buried in a book and still more laid back in personality, answered instead, "It's because he doesn't stand up for himself." She looked up from her book and called over to him, "Oi, Hashimoto."
After his surname was called, he reluctantly looked back. "What is it?" He asked quietly.
She beckoned and indicated that he come over. Nervously standing up, he asked again, "What is it?"
Snapping her book shut, she stood up, strode over to him and rapped the book's spine over his head. "You're a man, aren't you? So act like one. Tell those kids your skin represents your heritage, and that you're proud of it." Giving him a sharp look, she asked, "Unless you ashamed...?"
Sho mutely shook his head. For Ryou, that was an uncharacteristically long speech. She looked back down at her book and her face gained a hint of a rueful expression. Shooting Sho a sour look, she commented, "Now I've lost my place in 'Paradise Lost.'"
Sho quirked a grin at the joke.
Flashback End
Overwhelmed by remorse, Sho fell to his knees, clutching his head.
Seeing that Sho had fallen rather steeply from his battle high, Hiroshi took hold of his shoulders and coaxed him back to his feet and away from the battle arena. "It's alright. You'll only feel like this the first time."
Sho's body shook so much that Karin couldn't tell if he had twitched away at Hiroshi's touch or not. When he came back, he stood some distance away from the rest of Group Exile, as if he feared that he would relapse and hurt more people.
Hiroshi then assured Megumi, "Ryou will be fine. An arrancar will take her to the infirmary." He snapped his fingers and an arrancar appeared out of nowhere, picking up Ryou. After the arrancar had disappeared once again, Hiroshi turned his head and called out to the next pair. "Hikari and Kohaku, please?"
*Kika = Dangerous Shoes (I bet you're all laughing, but I couldn't think of anything else… T.T It sounds cooler in Japanese, though? ...no? T.T)
…
The shinigami mulled over the rough map of Las Noches that Nel had drawn.
Toushirou glanced at Urahara, who had remained silent during the whole time Nel had drawn and explained the maps of Las Noches. Noticing his look, Urahara shrugged and said, "This time I won't be coming along. After all, your mission is to rescue Karin-san. You don't need me in the front lines for that. Though it would be different story if we were actually invading Las Noches."
Toushirou gauged him for a second, but the shopkeeper's poker face was impenetrable. Unable to garner any ill intent - or any intentions at all - behind that damned play face, Toushirou returned to the discussion, where the others were now hashing out the details.
"So you…" Rukia pointed to Grimmjow, who sat on the ground with his back leaning against a boulder, "will open the garganta into Hueco Mundo. Where will we land? In Las Noches?"
Neliel snorted. "Not if he does it, we won't. He tends to land miles away from the planned destination." (Damnit Neliel! Not miles!) Ignoring Grimmjow, Neliel announced, "I'll be opening the garganta into…" she pointed near the far northwest corner on the schematics of the third-level-basement in Las Noches, "here. Grimmjow said this is nearby where Karin should be." She moved her finger slightly up, to the way corner. "North to it are some small miscellaneous rooms and most importantly, their supposed training room. East of it are their personal bedrooms, and to the south – "
"With what grounds?" Toushirou asked.
Neliel raised her head from the map, giving Toushirou a puzzled look.
Toushirou repeated, "On what grounds are you confident that Karin is there? 'Should be.' That means you aren't completely sure." He directed this statement to Grimmjow.
Grimmjow snapped, "What about just taking my word for it?"
Neliel elbowed him and asked, "What happened to your motto of 'don't trust anybody but yourself?' Does 'anybody' exclude you?"
"Shut up."
Toushirou cut in coldly, "I refuse to lead shinigami to their potential deaths without any proof whether the person we're looking for is really there or not."
"Che." Grimmjow made an irritated face. "It's where the hybrids stay. That girl's a hybrid, so she should've been sent there." After thinking for a moment, he added, "They also have dungeons and caja negacion for those who misbehave…" He trailed off, returning to his examination of his gigai.
As Toushirou leaned back on a boulder and closed his eyes, playing out the scenario of the coming plan in his mind, Ichigo started at the mention of caja negacion. "Caja - ! Isn't that what you used to delay Ulquiorra…? In another – "
Grimmjow vaguely completed Ichigo's sentence, "Yeah, yeah. Another dimension." Engrossed with his gigai's hand, he murmured, "Man, that Urahara guy is a genius."
Floored at the way Grimmjow managed to look so completely disinterested at the fate of his sister, Ichigo said heatedly, "Didn't you say that it would seal the arrancar in the other dimension forever?"
Shooting Ichigo an exasperated look, Grimmjow replied, "That's the case for weaker arrancar. Your sister is nowhere near weak. Ulquiorra broke out after a few hours, remember? Besides, Aizen wouldn't allow her to be shut in another dimension; she's one of his 'precious' hybrids."
The group lapsed into silence, each buried in his or her thoughts and Grimmjow going back to admiring his gigai.
Toushirou continued to envision the halls of Las Noches as Neliel had drawn them on the map. He got to the part where they split up, some heading for the training ground, others for the private rooms, and yet others to the dungeons. Given Karin's personality, he decided that the training area had the highest probability of being Karin's location - even higher than the prisons - so he would go with that group. But he got stuck there.
Toushirou frowned, going over the plan again. But try as he might, he couldn't get past that part. It was always cut short when it came to the point of actually retrieving her. Who would they encounter there? Would they be powerful? Grimmjow had said that the other successful experiments were on par with the Espada, so they probably would be… but would they really attack them? Wouldn't Karin just tell them that they were with her? Or would she be locked up? Toushirou turned these thoughts over and over in his mind, as if attempting to make pancakes over a stove set at an extremely low setting.
Fingering his chin, Renji broke the silence by voicing his thoughts, "I think it'll be better to go with fewer people. It's less noticeable."
Pausing in the process testing his finger joints, Grimmjow looked up with a raised brow, disbelief clear on his face. "Were you listening with your nostrils when I said that the hybrids were on par with the Espada?"
"You'll need a force of at least eight people if we encounter them. And that's assuming that we don't encounter the remaining Espada." Neliel explained.
Now experimenting his gigai's jaw's flexibility, Grimmjow added in a rather garbled voice, "Aizen'll 've replaced me an' th' other Espada by now."
"I'll go too."
Ichigo turned to Tatsuki, who had thrown that sentence out of the blue. Staring at her, he unwittingly commented on an unrelated tangent. "Inoue's really worried about you, you know."
Tatsuki replied, "I know. I've been to see her."
Looking straight at his childhood friend, Ichigo asked, "Do you really want to go with us?"
Clenching her fists, Tatsuki said firmly, "Of course I do! I'm the reason she got captured in the first place."
Toushirou, who had still been internally going over the plan until then, opened one crystal-blue eye, which swiveled over to Tatsuki. "You can only come along if you can hold your own against one of us."
Tatsuki obviously had not expected this. "Toushi – "
"It's Hitsugaya-Taichou." Toushirou gave Tatsuki an icy glare that looked positively dangerous.
Though she faltered at the young captain's face expression, Tatsuki nevertheless continued, "But I've trained with Neliel and Renji. I'm strong enough."
Pushing himself off of the boulder, Toushirou reached back for his sword. "Then prove it."
Rukia hurriedly came in between them. Renji explained to Tatsuki in a reasonable tone, "It's because you might hold us back."
Tatsuki looked affronted at his bluntness. "I won't hold – "
Renji interrupted her protest. "Yoruichi-san or Kira will heal you, so just fight someone, if you want to prove that you can handle it."
Infuriated, Tatsuki chose the shinigami she thought looked strongest. In her mind, Shuuhei looked the strongest, as he had three parallel scars on the side of his face – her inductive reasoning was that the more scars you had, the more experienced in battle you were. "I'll fight you."
Surprised, Shuuhei pointed at himself. "Me?"
Tatsuki nodded. "You look the strongest."
As a captain and same rank as Shuuhei, Renji looked quite offended at this. "What? And I don't look strong?"
Casting the redhead a scornful look, Tatsuki threw back, "I won't even answer that one."
"Why you – " Ichigo made a face as he had to hold Renji back using both arms.
As Shuuhei stood up with a resigned sigh, Tatsuki rolled up a sleeve and said with a grin, "Don't go easy on me now."
…
Kohaku lay on the ground, beaten and bloodied up after his battle with Hikari.
Hikari licked a finger covered in blood. "Hmph. Is that all you have? What a waste of my appetite." Shrugging, she sauntered off the field.
She had toyed with him all along and Hiroshi intervened just in time to prevent her from finishing Kohaku off. "Now, now, Hikari. Don't kill him. He's a comrade. Save your strength for enemies."
Hikari tossed her dark chestnut hair. "As if it would take any energy to kill him." But she walked away. Hiroshi summoned another arrancar to take Kohaku to the infirmary to join Ryou.
As if he'd been waiting for this, Akito jumped out without Hiroshi even having to call him.
Kyo stepped forward as well, but before he could leap down, Karin grabbed his wrist. He looked back at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. I'm your twin, remember?"
Grin spreading slowly across her face, Karin slid her hand down and clasped his hand. "That's right. And my twin's strong, just like me." Her face expression suddenly switched from the grin into one of mock scolding, "Be careful though."
Kyo laughed. "What are you, my mother?"
Lightly leaping out, he landed in front of Akito, who had already called forth his weapon, a rapier. Though before it had been a regular plain fencing sword, now it was almost needle-thin – invisible from where Karin stood. All she saw was the skeletal looking gnarled hilt.
In turn, Kyo summoned his own twin swords, Kyuu.
Pretending to examine his transformed weapon, Akito said, "I'll finally get revenge on you for humiliating me."
Kyo blinked and stared, showing no signs of comprehension. Akito jerked his head up towards Karin. "In front of your sister."
Kyo's face turned stony. Akito did an experimental jab. "You're not really her brother, are you?"
At this, Kyo's face rapidly turned from stony to enraged. He lunged towards Akito with both swords. Blocking them both with his long fencing blade, Akito's lips curled up in delight at finding Kyo's sore spot and 'rage button.'
Sliding his rapier into an angle that allowed him to drive his opponent back, Akito whispered in Kyo's ear, "You just want her for yourself, don't you? Kurosaki Kyo?"
As she intently watched the battle, Karin saw Akito's mouth move and Kyo darken with anger. But she couldn't hear what the two were talking about; they were too far away. But she suddenly heard Kyo shout, "It's not like that!" and swing both of his blades outwards, blasting Akito away.
Midblast, however, Akito regained his balance and landed on his feet. Grinning, he dropped into a fencing stance that mimicked a stance of drunken fist – appearing unstable but actually using the swaying movement as to be unpredictable. Then he suddenly disappeared.
With a clearer head than before, Kyo predicted the direction from whence Akito's attack would come from and turned, blocking the strike with a single sword. He hid a wince. Even if Akito used a much thinner blade, his attacks now made Kyo's arm go numb. Despite the numbness, he used the other blade to counterattack.
He struck home. Akito was bleeding from where the sword had skewered him. Looking down at Kyuu, he snorted. Then with a spray of blood, he wrenched himself free. To everyone's surprise, Akito then ignored the wound and launched himself towards Kyo. Narrowly avoiding being skewered by the rapier, Kyo looked down at Akito's wound and his eyes widened; it was healing. Cursing, he parried Akito's next attack with his two black swords in a cross formation, learning from last time it was near impossible to just block with a single blade. Then, sliding a single sword from the deadlock, Kyo used it to slice downwards.
Abruptly, Akito's arm that was raised to balance his body into the fencing position fell off, sliced at the bicep. Gritting his teeth, Akito swiped his rapier unsteadily; even then, he had enough power to make Kyo skid back.
"Bastard! What have you done – " But his words cut short. Before their very eyes, Akito's left arm grew back, first a new bone sprouting out, then the bone covered by flesh, the skin covering it last. Akito looked maniacally delighted as he examined his arm and flexed his new arm.
Karin realized that the machine had granted Akito high-speed-regeneration powers – not unlike some Menos. Though part of her envied this power, most of her worried for Kyo.
Kyo could hold his own, she knew. His skills were on par with, if not superior to hers, and she had won against Akito in every sparring session by a mile - though the steroid machine could improve physical powers and innate abilities, it couldn't improve technique and pure skill.
But even Kyo would be hard pressed to win in a fight without killing Akito. She had a distinct feeling that Hiroshi would be very displeased if Akito were to be killed. But on the other hand, if Kyo held back, it was likely he would be the one killed instead.
…
Unable to untangle the scenario in his head, Toushirou asked Neliel, "Do the arrancar have some sort of barrier around Las Noches that will alert them?"
Neliel shook her head. "Not for garganta, they don't. But if anyone tears an opening into Hueco Mundo with something other than a garganta, an alarm will sound." Glancing at the shinigami outfits around her, she sighed, "Then again, using a garganta might be useless if the Las Noches barrier is set to react to shinigami."
"…Do you know how the arrancar will react if they find out? The arrancar in the vicinity of the area we'll be infiltrating."
Neliel shook her head and said, "I'm three-quarters of a decade antiquated, remember?" She turned and poked Grimmjow. "Hey. Did you hear his question?"
Annoyed at the poke, Grimmjow said waspishly, "Of course I did. I'm sitting right beside you."
Poking him again, Neliel asked, "Then answer his question."
Crossing his arms, Grimmjow shrugged. "Can't. Don't know any of the arrancar near there. Never bothered to get to know them."
Toushirou sighed.
Tatsuki was drenched in sweat even though Shuuhei hadn't even released his zanpakutou.
Sheathing Kazeshini, Shuuhei said to her, "Give up. You've chosen the wrong guy to fight."
From behind, Renji clapped Tatsuki on the shoulder. "Yeah. Train, then when we invade Hueco Mundo for real, you can come with us."
Angrily, Tatsuki shrugged off Renji's hand and stomped off. Once she reached the ladder, she jumped up the hatch.
Renji looked puzzled. He turned to Ichigo and asked, "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, she's just like that when she loses." Ichigo replied. He thought for a moment and added, "Well. That's what she was like when she lost a sparring session back in middle school, anyways. I haven't seen her lose a fight since then, though."
Renji turned the discussion towards the shinigami participating in the rescue mission. "Is your dad coming?"
Clapping his hands to his knees, Ichigo stood up. "Nah. My old man's not coming this time; he says he'll leave it to us." 'Specifically, to me.' he added to himself.
Flashback
Isshin clapped Ichigo on the shoulder. "I'm leaving Karin to you, son."
Ichigo was confused. "Aren't you coming, Oyaji?"
Looking Ichigo in the eyes Isshin said seriously, "No. Yuzu's starting to get suspicious." Glancing sideways towards Karin and Yuzu's room, he continued, "She's used to you being gone, but I can't leave her alone again." There was a silent implication of the aftermath of the mansion fiasco, where Yuzu had come downstairs and caught them all in the hospital room.
Abashed that he had forgotten about his other younger sister, Ichigo hung his head. "Yuzu…" He murmured. Taking a deep breath, Ichigo raised his head once again.
Giving his son another encouraging slap on the back, Isshin said, "Bring Karin back safe home." He pointed at himself and winked, "Yuzu and I'll keep this house ready for her."
Ichigo nodded and said in return, "Take care of Yuzu while I'm gone."
At this, Isshin's expression became disdainful and he hit Ichigo over the head. "Insolent! Are you lecturing your father now? You forget that you were the one who disappeared for months on end! Hurry up and go to the hospital room and see if that blue-haired arrancar has woken up yet!"
Flashback End
Turning towards Toushirou, then Neliel, Ichigo asked, "You guys done discussing the plan?"
Annoyed that Ichigo hadn't been listening to the discussion that had taken place right beside his ear, Toushirou parried the question with another question. "Do you really think we can predict the arrancar's movements if even Grimmjow doesn't know?"
"Uhh…"
At Ichigo's lack of a coherent answer, Toushirou answered his own question. "We can't. If we can't predict what the opponent will do, we certainly can't make a plan. All we can do is prepare for the start of the infiltration itself. We will have to rely on our own instincts from then on."
Neliel shrugged. "Well, arrancar usually play things by ear anyways. Types who prepare for an invasion are rare among us. So it's the same on both sides."
She shed her gigai, and pulled Grimmjow from his. Neliel drew a line in the air, and turned around as the interdimensional rift opened. "Shall we go?"
…
"Aizen-sama! We've picked up the energies of nine shinigami in the third level basement!"
Aizen closed his eyes in enjoyment as he felt familiar presences enter his fortress. 'Urahara Kisuke isn't with them, I see.' He noted a spiritual presence that was present. 'Ah… Kurosaki Ichigo.'The corners of his lips twisted upwards the littlest bit. 'He's in for a little surprise.'
Out loud, he said, "Have Group Exile defend the stronghold, as they are closest."
Thinking of Ichigo once more, Aizen's smile widened as he added, "Tell them to attack to kill."
…
Having exited the garganta, the party of eleven, comprised of nine shinigami and two arrancar, stood in a hallway.
Grimmjow looked around and affirmed, "This looks right."
The shinigami too, glanced around, but as the hall looked completely white and plain, they didn't know exactly what there was to prove 'looked right.' Then again, they hadn't lived in Las Noches either. So they took Grimmjow's word for it, hoping to whatever they each believed in that the short-tempered arrancar was right.
"Now what?" Ichigo looked around.
Toushirou informed him, "The room with the highest probability is the training room" He looked down the seemingly endless corridor, at what he instinctively knew was north.
Neliel asked Grimmjow, "Are the prisons still located in the same place?" He nodded and they started to leave, but Rangiku grabbed Neliel's sleeve.
"I'd like to go as well." Rangiku's voice was quiet. But his lieutenant's plea had not escaped Toushirou's keen ears, and what he'd heard took him aback.
Rangiku always followed his orders on the battlefield; it was unusual of her to take initiative without his command. Eyes flickering to Shuuhei, who seemed to have been expecting this, Toushirou's eyes narrowed. The Tenth Division Captain then declared, "I'm going to the training room. Who wants to come with me?" Seeming to remember what Toushirou had said about the training room having the highest possibility, Ichigo immediately stepped forward, and Rukia after him. Toushirou glanced towards his lieutenant, though he knew what her answer would be. "Are you coming, Matsumoto?"
Rangiku smiled at him. "I'd like to go with Neliel to check out the prison cells. You're my captain, so the final say lies with you, but you aren't going to order me to come with you, are you, Taichou?"
Though her words were undoubtedly true, the smile she wore while saying it was too big to be real, Toushirou realized. 'Matsumoto's hiding something from me.'
It had been the same right before and after Ichimaru had left Soul Society, Rangiku forcing smiles and acting nonchalant when her feelings were in complete turmoil. But that time, what she had been hiding had been her own doubts concerning Ichimaru. 'What's she hiding this time?' Toushirou wondered briefly, before shoving the thought out of his mind.
Though he had the martial authority of a captain, the very same captain had no right to invade their subordinate's private affairs. It was no business of his. And so he nodded his
And they had a more urgent situation at hand.
As Shuuhei, Rangiku, and Neliel headed towards the prisons, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Kira headed east, that left Ichigo, Toushirou, Rukia and Renji for north.
Towards the training room.
…
As Kyo and Akito fought, Karin felt an odd tingle run through her body. She dismissed it as nervousness on Kyo's behalf, and returned to watching the battle.
Kyo had severed several of Akito's limbs, but all of them had grown back. The only way to keep Akito down was to deal a fatal blow to the neck or organs – but Kyo couldn't do that. It wasn't that he feared retribution; what he feared was felling a comrade. But Akito didn't seem to reciprocate the feeling. He lunged at Kyo without any hesitation. He only had the intent to kill. Finally, Kyo merged his swords – just as Karin occasionally did during sparring sessions.
It was the first time Karin had seen Kyo do it, but as she craned her neck for a closer look, she felt another tingle travel up her spine, stronger this time. This was the second time, and it was too strong to be just nervousness. It had to be something or someone else. She quickly turned around. It seemed to be coming from behind the wall…
She heard Megumi gasp and swirled her head round again to the battle.
Kyo had caught the needle-like point of the rapier by the flat of his sword, blocking it right before it pierced his chest. With the merged sword, Kyo flung Akito off, who, despite his considerable growth in frame, somersaulted in the air to land on his feet.
Karin, again distracted by the strange feeling. The tingling had turned into an outright buzzing in her ears, and she whipped around to face the door. 'Somebody – no… a group of people are here.'
As if on cue, an arrancar opened the door, followed by a healed Ryou.
'Kohaku must not have recovered yet.' It wasn't surprising, as Hikari had torn almost every square inch of his skin, barely sparing his life. Ryou gave Sho a cold look, and ashamed, he looked away.
Just in case, Karin tested the arrancar and Ryou with her spiritual energy. It was just as she thought. 'They weren't the ones giving off that feeling…' Karin frowned. Then who was it?
The fight between Kyo and Akito raged on regardless of the arrancar's appearance. However, their entrance caught Hiroshi's attention and he was there in a flash. "Ah, Ryou." The arrancar didn't leave after fulfilling the task of escorting Ryou back, and instead spoke, "Hiroshi-sama."
Hiroshi turned and asked, "Yes?"
As Ryou went over to a relieved Megumi who had started crying all over again, Karin tried to discern what Hiroshi and the arrancar were talking about, her eyes flashing back and forth between them.
As Hiroshi nodded, the arrancar bowed and backed away out of the door. Looking uncharacteristically solemn, Hiroshi clapped his hands, calling for the attention of Group Exile.
Though most of the members turned to him, Kyo and Akito were still going at it.
Firmly and loudly, Hiroshi said, "Enough. Save your strength for the enemies that have infiltrated Las Noches."
This demanded even Kyo and Akito's attention. They both slowly lowered their swords. So that was what the tingling feeling had been, Karin thought.
"Yes. The enemy – Karakura – has invaded our our sanctuary. Aizen-sama has ordered for us kill them, to protect our stronghold."
All the kids' faces changed at the mention of Karakura. Karin felt her blood boil, and she clenched her fists. No doubt the other kids felt the same. Her face darkening, she pulled out Koutetsu. Immediately, Kyo was at her side with an equally ferocious look on his face. After glancing at each other and nodding, they took off immediately, out the door and down the hallway, towards where they felt the energy coming from.
They skidded to a stop when they saw a four people clad in black. Right at their heels, the rest of Group Exile – save for Kohaku – stopped dead in their tracks as well. The group of four looked just as taken aback as they did.
Running her eyes over the four shinigami, Karin vaguely noted only the shortest one had a normal black hair color. The other ones were orange, red and white. 'Are these people really from Karakura…? They look more like…'
"Shinigami." Kaoru said. "They're the evil dudes who wipe out hollows."
Before Karin had time to wonder what shinigami had to do with Karakura, all at once, the shinigami all rushed towards her.
…
…
A/N: Onto the next chapter…