Ichigo decided that Urahara was the lucky one as he lead the others through the wooden stands to find a spot where all three of them could sit. Urahara got to go back to his lab and actually do something to help with the Quincy problem. Ichigo was under orders to take the rest of the day off and relax. His hell butterfly had been sent back to him shortly saying that his concerns were understood, and the Taichou were discussing what to do next. He would be notified when he was needed.
The situation had Ichigo wound tighter than a spring. He knew that the Quincy were going to attack soon. He just didn't know how to tell anyone else that. The fact that he could feel a distinct reduction in his power levels was not helping him relax and enjoy the game.
Ryuuken was completely on board with forging ahead and was only waiting for the opportunity. He followed behind Ichigo placidly taking in the brutal semi-final game of Soccer Brawl being played on the field. He kept glancing at Ichigo questioningly, and Ichigo resolutely ignored him. There was no way he was going to admit that this was his fault.
Rukia bounced along in front of him as if looking for something. She would stop at odd times and stare into the crowd intently, then when she did not see what she was looking for she would skip ahead a few stops before stopping to repeat the process. When she found it she stopped so abruptly that Ichigo ran directly into her pointy elbow. He stopped to rub at his ribs and glared at her. She just grinned up at him cheekily and pointed to where Hinamori was standing on one of the wooden benches waving at them. She yelled something that none of them could hear over the noise of the crowd cheering.
Rukia jumped over the people sitting on the bench they were walking along and ran up to her. She turned around and gestured for them to hurry it up.
"Excuse me, sir," Ichigo said to the man Rukia had leaped over and stepped up a level to the other bench. Ryuuken followed him with a polite nod at the man.
Ichigo stopped abruptly when he saw Tatsuki sitting next to Hinamori in an Academy uniform. She looked healthy and happy in her white haori and red hakama. She grinned up at him. "Hi Ichigo, long time no see. Did you forget about me?"
Ichigo scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Ahh..."
Rukia snorted. "I'll take that as a yes," She said.
Ichigo snorted. "I've been busy. You know that since you were obviously ordered to be my baby sitter," Ichigo said elbowing Rukia in return for earlier.
"I'm not a baby sitter," Rukia complained.
"That's not what Byakuya said," Ichigo said and got elbowed again for his trouble.
Tatsuki laughed at them. "It's okay. I don't really need the excuses," She said sobering up suddenly. "I understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore. I messed up big time and was way out of my league. I know that now."
Ichigo nodded accepting the apology for what it was. "Friends?" He asked holding out his hand.
Tatsuki took it. "Friends," She said firmly.
They all sat down on the bench. Hinamori silently patted Tatsuki on the back with a warm smile and an 'I told you so' look. Ichigo pretended he didn't see it. Instead he took a seat next to Hinamori. Ryuuken sat down next to him, and Rukia plopped down on the other side of Tatsuki.
A silence fell over the group as a whistle blew and the team dressed in black drew their swords and hit the other team head on. The team in orange formed a defensive line around the ball setting in to protect it with hakuda.
"So... this is your doing?" Tatsuki said to Ichigo waving her hand at the players on the field. "Hinamori told me," She said when Ichigo flinched.
One of the orange players kicked the soccer ball off a black player's head as the other raised his sword for a downward stroke. The crowed cheered loudly.
Ichigo crossed his arms defensively. "No. All credit goes to Yachiru. She decided that it would be a good way to test out new recruits to see if they could handle being in the Eleventh," He said plaintively. "It went a little crazy from there."
Tatsuki smiled at him knowingly. Ichigo sighed in resignation. Even he knew how weak his argument was.
Hinamori coughed lightly to get Ichigo's attention. He glanced at her and she smile up at him winsomely, but her eyes kept sliding over to Ryuuken. "Aren't you going to introduce your friend?" She said hissing in his ear.
Ichigo looked over at Ryuuken. He was as absorbed in the game as everyone else was. His only response was to raise an eyebrow when he caught Ichigo staring at him.
"He's not my friend," Ichigo clarified. It earned him a disapproving frown from Hinamori. "He's my friend's dad, Ishida Ryuuken."
"Ishida?" Tatsuki asked. "Oh! Did you... you know?" She trailed off in embarrassment.
"No, I'm merely visiting," Ryuuken said with a sad smile. Despite what his son thought he did pay attention. He knew that this girl had been in Uryuu's class up until her untimely death in a gas line explosion, officially.
Hinamori pinned Ichigo with a stare. "Explain," She demanded. She had learned the hard way not to ignore the strange things that happened around Ichigo. A living human walking around the Soul Society more than fell under that category.
"Uh, well you know how I've always said that there are Quincy hidden out there ready to attack us at a moments notice?" Ichigo said with a fake smile plastered on his face. "Ryuuken is here to help."
Ryuuken snorted. "As if I would help the Shinigami. I am here because my idiot son has joined those Quincy, and now I need to save him from the worst mistake of his life." He returned to watching the game. "This at least will entertain me while I wait," He said.
Hinamori sat with her mouth hanging open. She had never taken Ichigo's insistence on an impending Quincy attack seriously. She had always assumed that his imagination had run away with him on that one.
"Baka," Rukia said. "You are determined to get yourself executed, aren't you?"
Ichigo shrugged helplessly. It did look that way sometimes. "Isn't Renji around here somewhere for you to bother?" He said to change the subject.
Rukia rolled her eyes. "He's playing today," She said pointing down at one of the players wearing a black haori. Sure enough it was Renji, red hair, tattoos and all.
"You're a Quincy," Hinamori squeaked at Ryuuken.
"Only on alternating weekends," Rukia said butting in once more.
Hinamori glared at her. She didn't like that she was the only one who hadn't known that, and they we all taking it so well. Even Tatsuki seemed to know who Ryuuken was in relation to his son. "But..." She took a deep breath. "He's a Quincy. They are supposed to be the one attacking us, or so you said,"She said to Ichigo accusingly.
"The bad Quincy are the ones who will be attacking the Soul Society," Ryuuken said patiently as if speaking to a child. "I am not beholden to Yhwach for my powers. Therefore I am not held to his will to attack Sierietei."
Hinamori frowned at him, and then at Ichigo. She did not appreciate the rudeness. "Well?" She asked Ichigo. She wanted someone that she could trust to say it.
"He's too stuck up to attack anything on the orders of someone else," Ichigo said with a reassuring smile.
"Quite," Ryuuken said still watching the two teams on the field beat each other up over a ball. "You have nothing to fear from me, young lady. I am far more interested in this game than anything else. I was not aware that there even was a way to make soccer interesting."
Ichigo groaned as he felt a familiar weight hit him in the back. Leave it to Yachiru to make an entrance. "Swords make everything better!" Yachiru declared loudly in his ear. He reached up and patted her on the head in response. That ear wasn't working anymore anyway.
"I suppose so," Ryuuken said staring at her as she made herself comfortable on Ichigo's shoulder. "You must be Yachiru."
Yachiru nodded happily. "And your a Quincy," She said.
"How did she know?" Tatsuki said. "There really isn't anything about him that screams Quincy."
"He's all sparkly like a Quincy," Yachiru said waving her fingers around Ryuuken as if forming an aura around him.
Everyone stared nonplussed by the explanation.
"I do not sparkle," Ryuuken said with emphasis.
Yachiru smile at him knowingly. "Okay Sparkle Man," She said. She poked Ichigo on the head. "You are less sparkle and more shadow today."
Rukia jerked her head up from the food she had bought in surprise. "Wait that whole thing in your office... You really are a Quincy?"
"No," Ichigo said shaking his head. "My mom is a Quincy. I'm a-" He broke off unsure how to finish that sentence. In the end he just shrugged helplessly.
"You're a what?" Hinamori asked curiously.
"Ichi-chan is a three part harmony," Yachiru said clapping her hands loudly. Everyone stared at her. "Hisagi-chan is teaching me moo-sack," She said drawing out her mispronunciation for emphasis, and then pouted when no one corrected her. They were all too busy trying to process the implications of what she had said.
Ichigo chewed on his lip. He didn't like to think of what Yachiru had meant by that. There was still too much about his own powers that he didn't understand. He had always used his powers, hollow and Quincy, separately. If what Yachiru said was true, and she was never wrong about reading reiatsu, then he had been using his powers wrong from the beginning. He needed to start using them together, somehow.
Ryuuken cleared his throat. "Anyway," He said pointing at where one of the orange team was being taken off the field on a stretcher. "Is here actually a way that someone could be thrown out of this game?"
Yachiru put her finger to her lips in thought. "Kidou!"
Everyone else winced at the memories her outburst brought up.
"I remember that game; not a fan favorite," Hinamori said with a shudder.
"I remember the riots," Rukia said dully staring off into the distance. She had been on duty that night.
"What happened?" Ryuuken asked, though he had a pretty good idea already.
"The Sharks used bakudou to tie up the Bears, and it was twenty minutes of them kicking the ball into the net. The fans got so mad they stormed the field and beat up the whole team. Then they finished up by taking out their frustrations on the nearby businesses and tried to burn down the stadium," Tatsuki said rubbing at her arms. "Me and some other students were herded back to the Academy and locked up in our dorms."
"Best game ever," Yachiru said smiling broadly as she punched strait up at the air. She looked around confused that no one agreed with her.
Ryuuken shook his head slightly and pulled out a cigarette. "Shinigami," He mumbled just loud enough for Ichigo to hear.
Ichigo smiled at his reaction. He was kind of proud of Shinigami eccentricities. Ryuuken huffed and went back to watching the game. He was even starting to enjoy himself in spite of being a booster seat for Yachiru so that she could see everything that was going on in the game. Though he did keep an eye out for disturbances, so when the blue pillars of flame lit the sky he was one of the first to react to them.
He grabbed Hinamori by the shoulder and pointed toward the flames. "That's them," He said.
"It's an invasion, a real invasion," She said looking around the stands. Most of the fukutaichou were at the game but all of the taichou were at the first division in a meeting. "We have to get these people to safety."
They all stopped as Matsumoto's voice filled the stands telling everyone to stay where they were and remain calm. She was down on the field already surrounded by the other fukutaichou. Hinamori jumped out of the stands onto the field to meet up with the others.
Ichigo looked at Ryuuken. "Come on," He said to the elder.
Ryuuken shook his head and pointed toward the first division. Ichigo looked and cursed when she saw Byakuya's bankai surrounding the area in a wreath of swords. "I told them not to use their bankai," he said.
"The other's will listen now," Ryuuken said as the bankai faltered and disappeared. "Eventually they will decide that their taichou need back up. I will be there when you arrive."
"What? You're just going to leave?" Ichigo asked a bit shocked by the words.
Ryuuken tilted his head slightly to the side. "Defending this city is your job. I meant what I said about my son, and I know where he is likely to be," He said dispassionately. He turned around.
Ichigo blinked not really sure if Ryuuken actually had any feelings at all. "The Soul King's Palace," He said.
Ryuuken turned back slightly.
"You wont see him until they get into the Soul King's Palace. Yhwach is saving his best fighters for them," Ichigo told Ryuuken. Ryuuken nodded in understanding and vanished with the help of Hirenkyaku.
"Damn it. Why are my allies always so unreliable?" Ichigo asked the world around him.
"Unreliable isn't the word I would use," Yachiru said peeking over his shoulder at him. "I would go with unpredictable."
Ichigo rolled his eyes and leaped out onto the field close to the knot of fukutaichou.
"About damn time you got here," Renji whispered as he walked up to the group. "Can you calm her down?"
He pointed with his chin at Hinamori who was standing red faced and obviously about to commit murder. Her hands were fisted in Hisagi's shihakushou, and she had pulled him down from his tall lanky height so that they were on the same level. "We can't just leave people here to die. They are already in the city, and at least a quarter of the population must be here," She screamed in Hisagi's face.
The other fukutaichou tore himself away from Hinamori. "All I said was that we need to protect the divisions."
"Most of the divisions are empty because of the game," Hinamori said shaking with emotion. "The important parts of the division are here."
"We can't defend the stadium. It would be a nightmare," Kira said placing his hand on Hinamori's shoulder to calm her down. "But we can't just abandon everyone either."
Ichigo scratched his head and scanned the crowded stadium. He had an idea, but he knew that he would need a special sort of person to pull it off. Some of the lower ranked Shinigami had huddled din groups around the fukutaichou waiting to be told what to do despite the fear in their eyes. Finally he spotted the exact person that he needed, a short, shy Shinigami with long lanky hair.
"Hanataro!" He called over the noise.
Hanataro's head shot up, and he pointed at himself uncertainly.
"Come here!" Ichigo said waving him over.
The other fukutaichou were giving him odd looks. "How's he gonna help?" Renji asked voicing everyone's thoughts.
Hanatarou haltingly walked up to the group hesitantly. "Uh- yes, Kurosaki Fukutaichou?" He stammered.
"Are there sewer tunnels under this stadium?" Ichigo asked. He hadn't really talked to Hanataro at all in this time line. The terrified young man must be wondering how Ichigo knew him at all.
"Um well, this place would be a nice little piece of hell if it weren't," Hanataro said briefly showing his backbone, but he followed it up with a whispered. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"Is there an access point near here?" Ichigo asked.
"Yes of course," Hanataro said snapping to attention as he realized what Ichigo was after.
"Good. I need you and anyone else who knows the tunnels to start an evacuation of the stadium," Ichigo said with as much authority as he could muster. He still felt uncomfortable giving orders to people he considered his friends. Even if they didn't remember him the same way they did him.
He pinned Hisagi with a stare. "We only need to defend a couple of the divisions to regroup and counter attack. The Fifth shares an outer wall with the Fourth. The others are too spread out or are just indefensible," He said thinking of the meandering gardens around his own division.
Hinamori perked up. "Yes, this way we can have a safe place for civilians with medical treatment and counter the invasion."
"What about the other divisions?" Hisagi demanded. "That would leave most of the city in enemy hands, not to mention Central 46." His words were punctuated by the sound of buildings breaking apart and collapsing in the distance.
Ichigo barely kept himself from face palming. He kept forgetting that that governing body still existed in this time line. "Don't they have their own hand picked guards to protect them? Unless that's where you really want to go?"
Hisagi's eyes narrowed. "I don't like the idea of abandoning most of the divisions."
Renji stepped forward and put his hand on Hisagi's shoulder. "The Divisions can be rebuilt. You know that we would need medical more than any of the other divisions. Look, I know how you feel, but we can't be running around like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off. I would be surprised if their plan wasn't to divide us up so that we are easier to take out."
Hisagi nodded reluctantly, still not happy with the decision.
"It is a sound plan, but I would add that some forces need to be sent to the Twelfth Division," Nemu spoke up from her position off to the side of the group. "For many reasons."
Everyone stared at their feet in uncomfortable silence. No one actually knew what was kept in the Twelfth Division labs, but everyone was sure that it would at the very least piss the Quincy off if they got into the labs.
"Yeah," Hinamori said reluctantly. "You can take any of your own people back to the Twelfth with you-"
"Not that many in the Division like this game," Nemu said while staring off into space. "We mostly prefer intellectual pursuits than the more physically inclined devisions. I am merely here because Yachiru would not leave me alone until I came."
"Eh, how many do you think you need?" Ichigo asked. He felt vaguely offended by Nemu's remarks.
"A group of ten should suffice. The bunker is very well protected. We just need some fighters to distract in case anyone gets in," Nemu said without batting an eyelash. Ichigo hesitated. He was very reluctant to send anyone to be cannon fodder.
"Right," Hinamori said. "Take who you need. Not the Eleventh, they will feel cheated if your defenses hold out. Matsumoto: let everyone know that the Fourth Division is organizing an evacuation." She nodded at Hanataro. He saluted and ran off to gather the other Fourth Division seated officers and start the evacuation. Hinamori scanned the crowed and frowned. "We need to go find Nanao. She is the best we have at kidou wards. Come on..."
"Not so fast," Ichigo said grabbing her arm. "The strongest of us need to go to the First Division and the Taichou."
Hinamori opened her mouth to argue with him.
"No, he's right," Hisagi said. "I'll go with Ichigo and Renji. The others can help defend the Divisions."
"Me too," Yachiru said from Ichigo's back. "I need to find Ken-chan."
"We get to come too." Ichigo and the others turned around to see Madarame and Yumichika each grinning ear to ear. "It sounds like you guys will be having the most fun," Madarame said.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Fine," He said itching to get going. He had already lost the only semi-friendly Quincy they had, and he was sure that the Taichou weren't doing as well as the others thought they were.
"Are you sure you want to bring them?" Hisagi asked.
"If you can stop 'em, stop 'em," Ichigo said preparing to shunpo to the First Division. He felt Yachiru tighten her grip in the ready signal.
"I'm going too," Rukia chimed in at the last moment.
Ichigo almost bit through his tongue. "No you're not!" He yelled turning on her. Rukia was no where near strong enough to take on the kind of Quincy they were going to meet at the First Division. He would rather she fight in a large group where she had a better chance to survive.
"If you can stop me, stop me," She said staring up into his eyes in determination.
Ichigo's eyes narrowed. He had almost lost one friend because of her own stubbornness, and Rukia didn't have the option of waking up again. "Bakudou 1: Sai," Ichigo said pulling back just enough to keep the restraint from dislocating Rukia's arms. She fell over with the force of the bakudou and glared up at him with eyes that promised murder. "Make sure she makes it to the Fifth Division safely, yeah?" Ichigo said to a surprised Hinamori.
"Eh..." Hinamori started unsure of whether to incur Rukia or Ichigo's wrath, but Ichigo was already gone.
"God damn over powered son of a bitch, Renji help me undo this," Rukia demanded. "It's just a low powered bakudou..." She strained against the kidou. "...supposed to be anyway. Renji!"
"I actually like your chances better at the Fourth. Sorry, Rukia. Please don't kill me..." Then Renji was gone as well. Hisagi heaved a beleaguered sigh and followed along with the rest.
They caught up with Ichigo and Yachiru outside the stadium and started to run to the First Division as a group.
"You had better hope you don't survive this," Rinji said as they ran. "Cause Rukia is going to kill you."
Ichigo turned his head slightly so that Renji could see his grin and said, "You too."