I do not own Bleach or any of the characters.
Way Out
Kurai slid off of Bawabawa, looking up to the top of the cliff. Nel, Dondochakka, and Pesche stood at the top, bound, and Kurai could tell there was a very powerful Menos nearby.
"Adjucha," Kurai breathed and Renji nodded.
"Ichigo!" Nel shouted. "Run away!"
They all leapt into the air, Chad pulling Bawabawa out of the way, as a Cero blasted the spot they were as Gillians began to swarm out of the trees, dozens of them at the time. Several lesser hollows stood behind Nel and her brothers as the Adjucha, judging by his massive Spiritual Presser, appeared beside Nel. He was tall, about three times Kurai's height and looked like a cross between a cockroach and a human.
"I was going to get you with one shot, but I missed," the Adjucha stated. "Oh well."
"You guys take the Gillians," Kurai stated raising his sister's Zanpakuto. "He's mine."
"Don't move Soul Reapers," the Adjuchas laughed. "Don't move a single hair. If you do, the hollows are going to eat them."
"It seems like you were planning to draw us out by using us as bait from the beginning," Uryu stated.
"And that's not all," the Adjucha laughed. "The guy who Lord Aizen placed in charge of this forest says he wants to face Ashido one on one."
"Ashido?" Kurai snorted. "Ashido died. Decades ago."
"Who?" Renji asked.
"One of the soul reapers that was marked as a possible recruit as a Captain Guard," Kurai stated. "How could the Adjucha in charge of the forest fight him?"
"He's alive, duh," the Adjucha snorted. "He has survived, fighting hollows in the forest for decades."
"I see," Kurai nodded. "Good. Perhaps the Captain Guards can return after all. Uryu, clear the crowd. Renji, Chad, Ichigo, the Gillians are yours."
All of the Gillians began firing Ceros, the blasts kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
"Ichigo!" Nel shrieked.
"Did they get 'em?" the Adjucha asked.
Uryu flashed up in front of him, forming his bow then mowing down the hollows behind Nel and her brothers. The Adjucha leapt away and toward Kurai. He spun at the last minute, blocking Kurai's slash with his bone gauntlet before throwing a kick, blasting Kurai into the ground. Kurai stood, grinning as Ichigo got Nel and her brothers to safety. Kurai leapt at the Adjucha again, slashing at it as it blocked the slash and threw a kick. This time, Kurai caught it.
"What?" the Adjucha gaped.
"Allow me to tell you something," Kurai grinned. "You may be strong around here, but you're just average for an Adjucha. I killed stronger Adjuchas than you when I was just starting. You're nothing to me."
He hurled the Adjucha into the cliff and it roared in rage, firing a Cero at him.
"Is that all?" Kurai grinned flying forward.
He slashed the Cero aside, the cero blasting the cliff. Then, Kurai flew to the Adjucha as it stared in shock. Kurai slashed the Adjucha across the face, cutting the head in half and killing the Adjucha.
The remaining few Gillians all turned and dispersed into the trees. Kurai landed beside the others and smirked.
"So, I don't suppose you guys figured out how to get out?" Kurai asked.
"Actually yes," Dondochakka nodded. "A hollow told us that the exit is this way."
"Good," Kurai nodded. "Now all we have to do is find Rukia."
"That's easy enough," Rukia spoke up from behind them.
"Rukia!" Ichigo smiled.
"Good to see you to Ichigo," Rukia smiled. "And you too Kurai."
"Thanks a lot," Renji grumbled.
Rukia smiled and Renji grinned as another Soul Reaper, this one with a tattered shihakusho a green fur cloak with several hollow masks on it, a zanpakuto with a green grip and a chipped rectangular tsuba, and shaggy brown hair appeared behind her.
"Ah, Ashido, I assume," Kurai spoke up.
"That's right," Ashido nodded. "Do you mind me asking how you know me?"
"My name is Kurai, last of the Captain Guards," Kurai stated. "I don't expect you to know what I'm talking about. My group was in charge of eliminating Adjuchas and large groups of Gillians that were too dangerous to risk large groups of Soul Reapers. During times of war, more than anything else, we were bodyguards to the captains. Before my group was wiped out by a Vasto Lorde, we were planning to recruit you."
"I see," Ashido nodded. "It sounds like an honor. I'm sorry things worked out the way they did."
"Don't be," Kurai shrugged. "You'd have died."
Ashido nodded then turned toward the cliff.
"The exit's this way," Ashido stated.
He began to climb and the others followed, Nel riding on Ichigo's shoulder while Chad and Kurai carried Pesche and Dondochakka and Bawabawa brought up the rear. They entered a low crack in the cliff face with a light at the far end.
"When you reach the end of this, follow the flow of the sand," Ashido stated. "Then you'll reach the surface."
Ichigo nodded and they started running. As soon as they did, however, several Gillians appeared behind them, one of them blasting the ground behind them.
"Damn, they're back again," Renji stated.
The same Adjucha Kurai had fought appeared, head held together by strips of its own skin tied around its head.
"You won't get away Soul Reaper," the Adjucha stated.
"Impossible," Kurai growled. "You're still alive?"
"It will take more than that to kill me," the Adjucha stated.
"Get back," Ashido ordered as Ichigo and Renji charged.
He pulled out one of the hollow masks, blocking a Gillian's Cero with it and reflecting the blast out of the crack. He did it several more times before one hit the ceiling, beginning to collapse the path.
"It's collapsing!" Renji shouted as chunks of rubble began to fall.
"Hurry, let's get out of here!" Uryu shouted.
"Ashido, come with us!" Rukia shouted.
"Go, I'll catch up later!" Ashido shouted as the Adjucha walked over, throwing a punch down at it.
He Flash Stepped out of the way, drawing his Zanpakuto as the mask he had been using as a shield, a long mask that covered his forearm, spun through the air to Kurai who caught it.
"I'll be coming after that Captain Guard," Ashido promised. "Hang onto it for me."
Kurai nodded then turned, picking up Rukia as he, Ichigo, and Renji all sprinted after the others, the path collapsing behind them. After a bit, they reached the surface, stopping as they did as Nel and her family began to celebrate making it out alive while Kurai examined his new shield and Rukia knelt in the sand, seeming to mourn the fact that Ashido hadn't escaped.
"Sorry," Kurai sighed. "I should have made sure I killed the Adjucha when I fought him."
"It's fine," Rukia sighed standing. We're almost to Las Noches. We should go."
"Hey, you want a lift to Las Noches?" Nel called out.
"On our way!" Kurai called back.
He and the others hurried over and climbed onto Bawabawa and he began moving. They would be there in under two hours. They could already see just how massive it was, considering it filled the horizon already.
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