Just to clarify something from the last chapter... Shinpachi Shiba, Kaien's father, died before Turn Back the Pendulum's events. He's the Captain of the 10th Division who died in duty. Isshin became captain of the 10th Division shortly after Urahara became Captain of the 12th. By the time Fujimaru and Matsuri became Shinigami, Isshin was inactive for reasons that will be later explained. He returned shortly after Aizen became captain of the 5th Division. This will all be explained in later chapters.
As for this one, this is more of a filler chapter than anything, to show the progress of the Humans. Much of what is written here is taken from the anime and manga, but I felt it was needed. It's important to establish that all this happened on September 9th, leaving the next two months until Orihime's kidnapping free for me to write the 3rd Phantom plot. Be careful not to skip it, as there are some important interactions, like in the end. Good read!
NEW STORY: Cherry Blossom's Man, which revolves around Kaien's feelings for Matsuri. It is CANON with this story.
Reunion of Three Phantoms Arc (051 - 069)
Chapter 051 - Improve! The Humans Start Training
Afternoon of September 9th, in Karakura Town...
"As usual you're quick with your work, aren't you, Hitsugaya-taichō?" Yamamoto spoke to Hitsugaya through the monitor which had been installed in Orihime's living room. "The reason we had you prepare this line so urgently was none other than... we've discovered Sōsuke Aizen's true objective."
"Aizen's true objective?" The shocked Hitsugaya questioned, to which the Captain Commander answered positively.
"Oh...This seems to be a pretty important conversation, so I'll leave the room!" Orihime excused herself and turned back towards the door.
"Wait. This conversation affects you humans as well, please stay and listen." Yamamoto's words stopped Orihime, who looked over her shoulder and back to the monitor. "It's been one month now since Aizen vanished. As you know, the investigations to the office of the Captain of the 5th Division discovered that Aizen had used the underground Central 46 chamber. Searches to the Seijōtōkyorin and Daireishokairō are ongoing. Ukitake, who was investigating the Daireishokairō discovered some clues earlier today."
"Ukitake did?" The Captain of the 10th Division asked, his eyes widening a bit more. Behind him, both Rangiku and Orihime listened carefully. "The information Aizen was looking at...what was it?"
"The Ōken." Yamamoto revealed, causing great shock to spread through Hitsugaya's face.
"Umm... what is this Ōken?" The confused Orihime asked.
"Just like how it's written... it's the key to the royal house. There's a royal family in Soul Society as well." Rangiku clarified for the human girl. "But even if you say 'king', because all of Soul Society is left to the Central 46 chamber and he doesn't do anything at all, it doesn't really feel like he exists. In reality, both the Captain and I have never seen him directly with our own eyes."
"Indeed. That king's name is Soul King and his existence is symbolical yet indispensable to all of Soul Society. While the royal palace is within Soul Society, it exists within a separate space and the Royal Guard defends it." Yamamoto continued the explanation. "The Ōken is the key that opens the space that leads to where the royal palace is located."
"So that means... Aizen-san intends to reach that King..." Orihime quickly concluded.
"Kill him." Yamamoto bluntly said it. "Most likely, that's what he intends. However, that is not where the problem lies."
"The book that Aizen looked at wasn't about where the Ōken could be found." Hitsugaya hypothesized, as he knew that Aizen already knew that.
"That is true. The whereabouts of the Ōken are told only to the Captains of the Gotei 13 orally. Therefore there is no such thing as a book that has its location recorded. Besides, Aizen knows where to find the Ōken but he can't reach it." The oldest Shinigami continued. "What he was reading was literature describing the situation when the Ōken was made. What he found out was how to create an Ōken. In other words, he found out he needs 100,000 souls and a heavily spiritual area whose radius extends one reiri. There's only one heavily spiritual area that matches those requirements and Aizen will target it for sure. That area... is Karakura Town."
"He's coming... for us?" Orihime mumbled, scared of what would be the future of her and her loved ones.
"It is difficult to imagine the details, thinking realistically, but I will put it simply... In the case that Aizen manages to complete the Ōken as he learned from that document, both Karakura Town and the land and people in contact with it, all of it will be ripped away from the world and vanish completely." Yamamoto warned the human girl, more than the pair of Shinigami in front of her.
"Th...that can't be..." Orihime whispered, her hands shaking. "Stop... isn't there any way to stop that from happening?"
"Even if there is none, we will stop it. That is why the Gotei 13 exists." Yamamoto assured, causing Orihime's trembling to suddenly stop. "It's limited, but there is still time. According to Kurotsuchi's report, the Hōgyoku, released from its seal within a soul, is in a deep sleep. Even using the prescribed methods, it will take four months for the Hōgyoku to completely awaken. Unless the Hōgyoku is awakened, Aizen cannot gather what he needs. It will be after that that he makes his next move. The showdown will be this winter." The Captain Commander then hit the tip of his cane in the ground, startling Orihime. "Until them, we must all strengthen our skill, and each man should make his preparations for battle."
"Hai!" Both Hitsugaya and Rangiku nodded in understanding.
"And Orihime Inoue... Aizen will be targeting the Living World, so there will be times when we may not be able to hold them back on our own. We will need the strength of the Living World as well... Could you relay that to Ichigo Kurosaki?" The old Shinigami asked to the young girl.
"Hai!" She quickly nodded and left the room. She had felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure earlier, so she knew where to find him.
"There's a thing though, Captain Commander." Hitsugaya spoke to his superior. "Both Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin ask for permission to temporarily send Ichigo Kurosaki to Soul Society a week from now, so that he can hone his skills. Apparently, the last two Arrancar attacks had him as a target, so they feel he would be safer in Soul Society. They're just waiting for him to complete his current training."
"Hmm... Most likely, Ichigo Kurosaki will still be targeted if he comes to Soul Society. Earlier today, Kaname Tōsen assaulted the Hakutōmon." Yamamoto revealed, causing both Shinigami to stare at him in shock. "Even so, here we can provide better protection for him than there. I'm sure that for now you can handle things down there, Hitsugaya-taichō. If coming to Soul Society for a time will be benefitial to Ichigo Kurosaki's strength and therefore to our own, so be it." Yamamoto allowed Urahara and Yoruichi's request.
"Well, I'll go pass this on to Ikkaku and the others." Rangiku said, before she left the room.
"Yes, I will go too." Hitsugaya turned around, intending to leave towards Urahara Shop to inform the former Captains of what had been discussed.
"Could you wait just a moment, Hitsugaya-taichō?" Yamamoto stopped the young Captain from leaving. "There's someone who has been waiting for a long while now in order to speak to you."
"You're... Hinamori!" Hitsugaya mumbled, as he recognized the Vice-Captain of the 5th Division, who had just appeared in the monitor.
At the same time, under Urahara Shop...
"Are you finished already, Yasutora Sado?" Renji asked to his training partner, as he had just used his Bankai to slam him against one of the many huge rock formations disposed all around Urahara's secret training ground. "Don't you think there's still too much light to be going to sleep?"
"I can still keep going!" Chad wiped the blood of his mouth and once again charged against the incoming Hihiō Zabimaru.
"Is that right?" Renji asked, as his Bankai clashed against Chad's armored fist, while Urahara watched them carefully.
"Sado-san, there's still room for your power to grow. It's definite that the more you experience battle with a Bankai, the more you will move up to the next step..." Urahara thought, as he watched the two younger men dishing it out. "The one thing that is worrisome however, is that your ability is neither that of the Shinigami or of the Quincy... Indeed, it's almost as if it were the power of a Hollow..."
Minutes later, in the Visored Warehouse...
"The amount of time he can preserve his state as a Hollow is not improving at all..." Hachigen stated, as both he and Shinji watched Hiyori beating up Ichigo all around the training ground, seated side by side.
"Well, it's not something that goes that easily..." Shinji admitted, before Ichigo's mask broke once again.
"4 seconds." Kensei informed, as he stared to his own wrist watch.
"Too short!" Shinji groaned.
"Hey, why is Berry-tan doing this again?" Mashiro asked to the leader of the Visored.
"He's training in order to be able to keep his Hollow state over a long period of time." Kensei was the one who answered to his former Vice-Captain. "You did it too, remember?"
"No, I didn't!" She answered in a mocking tone.
"What? You liar..."
"It's true, Kensei!" Shinji reminded the aggressive man. "Mashiro was able to stay in her Hollow form for over 15 hours from the very beginning, so she's the only one who hasn't done this training."
"Hmph, really? I forgot about that." Kensei admitted, before he turned to watch the fight again.
"See? See? Dumb Kensei! Now, get angry!" Mashiro continued to tease the silver-haired man. While they kept on arguing with each other, Hachigen noticed something was wrong.
"What's happening, Hacchi?" Shinji asked, as he didn't like the expression on Hachigen's face.
"Someone...slipped through my barrier and has transpassed into the complex." Hachigen informed, shocking every other Visored.
"Is it a Shinigami?" Love worriedly asked.
"No... The Hachigyō Sōgai that I placed around the vicinity is a spell I originally made after becoming a Visored. It's impossible that a Shinigami would have been able to undo it using Kidō." Hachigen pondered aloud, while he held his chin thoughtfully.
"So then what? Are you saying it's another Visored, like us?" Kensei questioned the Kidō master.
"I'm not sure... But what I don't understand the most is that they didn't destroy the barrier, they rather slipped through it. Even if it was a Visored, I still don't think they would have been able to do so." Hachigen continued to speak his thoughts.
"So just who the hell could it be, then?" Kensei asked, as he looked towards the staircase that led to the top floor. All Visored waited for a while, until a young girl with long, burnt orange hair and who wore a school uniform came down the staircase. "A human?!"
"Ah uhm...excuse me..." Orihime started to get nervous, as she saw all the people staring at her. She quickly tried to invent an excuse to why she was appearing uninvited on their secret training ground. "Could you tell me where the toilet is? Or something like that..."
"What the hell are you doing, Ichigo?" Hiyori's voice and an explosion interrupted Orihime's nervous laugh, with a dense smoke curtain rising from the rock formation Ichigo had just gone through.
"Kurosaki-kun?!" She called for him, as she him laying on the ground hurt. After she asked the Visored a moment to speak with Ichigo, she was able to tell him everything she learned from the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13, while he recovered.
"Don't be so worried about it, Inoue. It'll be alright." Ichigo stood after she said everything she had to say. "I'll stop Aizen. I can still become stronger. Just now, that's what I feel." He then turned to her with a smile on his face. "Thanks for coming to tell me, Inoue." Ichigo then walked back towards Hiyori, who had been waiting for him the entire time. "Alright, let's get back to training, Hiyori!"
"It's Hiyori-san, retard!" She quickly scolded him. Admiring his resolve, Orihime excused herself to the Visored and returned home.
"Your barrier is perfect, I don't have any doubts about that, Hacchi." Love spoke to him, while everyone else argued about Shinji's claims of Orihime being his first love. "But then why was that girl, Orihime-chan, able to find this place, and on top of that was able to come inside?"
"I'm not completely sure but by the looks of it, it appears that she traced the spiritual energy from nearby, meaning that she probably possesses a similar ability to create barriers like me, or so I felt." Hachigen revealed his conclusions. "Perhaps because she possesses that power, she was able to find this place enclosed in the barrier and then slipped through my barrier and entered the complex. But for someone to have that kind of ability as a human... it's quite difficult to believe."
"So this is where you were, Inoue." Yoruichi intercepted the human girl as soon as she left the Visored Hideout. "He was right. She indeed made contact with Shinji's group."
"Yoruichi-san!" Orihime happily greeted the woman in front of her, but her smile quickly disappeared, as Yoruichi had a very serious expression on her face.
"Kisuke asked me to, so I came looking for you." The older woman informed the younger one. "He told me to get you and bring you to the underground training room immediately."
At the same time, under the Karakura Hospital...
"Too bad... this is the end." Ryūken informed his son, as soon as he got free of his Gritz. He then fired a very focused Heilig Pfiel that went through Uryū's chest, knocking him back.
"He got me..." Uryū still thought before he lost consciousness. "Damn it..."
"Reduce both the spirit and the body down to its utmost limit and in that state, take a single spiritual arrow directly through, 19 mm to the right of the heart. That is the one and only way to recover the power of a Quincy who lost it." Ryūken explained, even though he was sure his son wasn't listening. He then knelt and picked up Uryū's glasses that had fallen and put them back on his son's face. "Honestly...why did you use Gritz there? If only you had used a Haizen there, you still wouldn't have been able to defeat me, but at least you would have been able to injure me. That's why I say you're stupid. You make me want to throw up. But...at least for today, I guess I'll overlook it."
Moments later, under Urahara Shop...
"Allow me to put it bluntly..." Urahara turned towards Orihime with a very serious look on his face. "Inoue-san, I'm going to have to ask you to stand back for the upcoming battle.
"W-What?" She nervously asked, as she couldn't believe what Urahara was asking her. Everyone was working so hard to become stronger and now that she was ready to do so as well, she was asked to stand in the side lines. Urahara's words reached Renji and Chad's ears, with both stopping their sparring match to ear what Urahara had to say.
"Tsubaki...every since he was destroyed in the battle with the Arrancar the other day, you haven't been able to restore him, right?" Urahara asked, as he noticed a part of her earrings was still missing.
"Yes... he was crushed into dust so badly that I can't even find any leftover pieces..." Orihime admitted sadly. "I have no idea how to fix him..."
"Tsubaki was your one and only method of offense. Now that you lost that, it's only obvious that you shouldn't be allowed to participate in battle." Urahara explained the situation, causing her to gasp.
"Wait a second, Urahara-san!" Chad intervened in the conversation. "Inoue is one of us! She fought selflessly with us against Soul Society and the Bounts! She's even saying herself she wants to become stronger, so how can you turn her away so easily?!"
"There's no real logic in what you're saying whatsoever. Do you want to send Inoue-san to her death?" Urahara questioned his new student.
"That's not it! Inoue has defensive and healing abilities, which are much more important than fighting abilities!" Chad tried to remind Urahara, who knew very well of that fact.
"I know about the defensive power of the Santen Kesshun. It probably won't help at all in this upcoming battle." Urahara told them, as he knew Yammy had been able to crush the shield with a single finger and he wasn't even as strong as Ulquiorra or Grimmjow. "In terms of healing, that's what the 4th Division is for. Around this time, Unohana-taichō and Kotetsu-fukutaichō class healers will probably be dispatched to the front lines. They'll fill in the hole left by Inoue-san multiple times over."
"But..."
"Stubborn, aren't you? I'm saying that warriors who have lost their ability to fight are only extra weight." Urahara said with coldness never before seen on his part.
"Urahara-san!" Chad shouted angrily, but Orihime shook her head.
"It's alright. Thanks, Sado-kun." She nodded to him gratefully. Chad noticed she was using her right arm to hug herself. "Thank you, Urahara-san... I'm glad that you were so straight forward. Well, if you'll excuse me..."
"Inoue, wait!" Chad called for her as she left the training ground running, but was stopped by Renji. "Abarai!"
"Let it go. Urahara's right." Renji said with a sigh. "The 4th Division might specialize in healing but as part of the Gotei 13 they've also been trained in battle. On the other hand, while she might have the ability, in the end Inoue is still only a human. On top of that, her personality...from the start she's just not cut out for battle. This might be the right time to get it across."
"Inoue?" Rukia met the human girl as she was coming out of the store, a visible sad look in her face. "What's wrong? To be in such a..."
"K-Kuchiki-san..." Orihime bit her lower lip, but wasn't able to prevent her tears from falling down any longer.
Moments later, on the Karakura High School's roof...
"Why that bastard Urahara, saying something like that... it's unforgivable." Rukia gave her opinion, while both her and Orihime remained seated side by side. The sky had already darkened and they both stared up to the stars.
"No...it's alright. Now that I've talked to you about it, I've calmed down a little. It's probably better off this way anyway. Besides, it's true that I don't have any power anyway..."
"It's not okay!" Rukia angrily spoke, before she grabbed Orihime by the collar of her shirt and forced her to stand. "Didn't you fight all the way up until now? And yet to be left out so easily... aren't you angry?!"
"I'm not."
"Don't lie!"
"It's not a lie!" Orihime sincerily repeated, causing Rukia's eyes to widen. "I'm not angry about it at all! It's just that... I'm just lonely because I can't fight alongside everyone else." Rukia finally understood what her friend was feeling and released her. "But...what I would hate more than being lonely is... I would hate being a burden on everyone! If I'm just going to tie everyone down, I'd much rather be lonely. "
"Listen up, Inoue. In terms of battle, those who are a burden aren't those who lack power, but those who lack resolve." Rukia spoke to her in a softer way. "In all battles up until now, there wasn't a single person who was a burden. Not Ichigo, not Sado, not Ishida, not anyone else. And that includes you as well, Inoue. If anyone had been lacking, I wouldn't be here right now. I'm sure there's something we can do for the upcoming final battle. Let's search together, Inoue."
"Kuchiki-san..." Before Orihime could say anything else, Hiyori appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed her. "Hi-Hiyori-chan?!"
"I'm taking you with me! Hacchi says he's got some business with ya!" She informed the human girl.
"Hacchi-san?" Orihime asked, but got no answer, as Hiyori dragged her along in a Shunpo.
"W-Who in the world was that?!" The confused Rukia found herself asking.
Minutes later, in the Visored secret training ground...
"I see... so it was destroyed to the point there wasn't even any pieces left, and so you couldn't fix it..." Hachigen analyzed the earring that was already inside one of his barriers. "And then, using that as a reason, you were ostracized? Is that how it was?"
"Well... it's a bit different, but I've already explained five times so we'll just leave it at that..." Orihime answered with a clumsy smile.
"But that is a bit strange... In terms of spiritual energy you seem to have very similar abilities to me, in which case even if there were or weren't any shattered pieces left over, you should be able to repair it to its original condition on your own." Hachigen told her, just before Orihime's earring started to glow and the broken pieces reformed. The earring then disappeared in a puff of smoke and Tsubaki appeared, his body completely reformed.
"Huh? What is it, woman?" Tsubaki asked as he saw her staring at him. "What kind of look is that?"
"Yaaay! I'm so glad you're okay now, Tsubaki-kun! This is so great!" As soon as the barrier came down, Orihime picked Tsubaki up and hugged him against her face. "Thank you so much, Hacchi-san! I'm so happy!"
"Orihime-san." Hachigen called for the young girl, causing her to stop hugging Tsubaki, much to the latter's relief. "Just now I healed Tsubaki-kun. Now you can certainly return to the battlefield. However, I too cannot recommend that you should fight. If you do indeed have similar abilities to mine, you aren't suited for battle. Even more so with the enemy being the Arrancars... But even still, do you want to fight?"
"Hai!" Orihime answered after pondering for a while. She remembered Chad and Rukia's words and decided that she wanted to follow the same path as them. "I want to fight!"
"If that's the case then very well." He said with a smile, before he got back up. "You still don't completely know the level of your abilities. I'm sure there is some way for you to fight. Please don't forget this: what's important is not how things should be, but how you want things to be."
"Thank you very much!" Orihime said her goodbyes to Hachigen and left the hideout, with Tsubaki on her shoulder. As she crossed the outside barrier, she saw someone that had been waiting for her. "Kuchiki-san!" She then remembered no one was supposed to know who lived inside the warehouse so she quickly got nervous. "Um you know, Kuchiki-san, actually in here..."
"It's alright, you don't have to say anything. I came here and felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure a little bit." Rukia crossed her arms over her chest and looked the other way. "Since he hasn't said anything it probably means that he has some sort of plan. That's good enough. Just to know that he's alright, that's enough for me... Let's go, Inoue!"
"Hai! Let's go, Kuchiki-san!" She nodded and followed her friend, after taking one last stare to the warehouse where Ichigo was.
In Las Noches, Hueco Mundo...
"Is it you, Ulquiorra? What do you want?" Yammy asked without looking back, since he was in the middle of his arm treatment. Roka Paramia, the Arrancar nurse, removed the bandages that surrounded his reattached right arm.
"So it did heal. Good thing we brought back your severed arm, just in case." Ulquiorra stated.
"It takes too long! My arm's going to rot!" Yammy complained, while the nurse started to remove the stitches. "Wish our bodies would regenerate like your eyes."
"Stop complaining. Be glad it has even been reattached. If your arm had been completely destroyed like Grimmjow's, you probably would have been removed from the Espada as well." Ulquiorra informed the Decima Espada, who grunted in response.
"The best I could do with him was to attach a corpse's limb. Since it's not his, his strength and spiritual power haven't returned to what they were. He must have become weaker than the new Sexta Espada." Roka calmly explained, while she took care of Yammy's arm.
"That's true. Who's the new one?" Yammy ended up asking.
"Luppi." Ulquiorra curtly answered, causing Yammy to groan. He didn't like Luppi one bit.
"The operation is complete." Roka informed her patient, who started to flex his arm and hand. "How does it feel? Are there any differences in movement, reaction, or the like?"
"Hmm?" Yammy wondered, before he delivered a powerful backfist blow to the female Arrancar, sending her crashing against the nearby wall. Her head was crushed on impact and blood was spread through the wall. "Still no good. If it were like how it used to be, she should've been crushed into dust. Oh well, give it some time..."
"How stupid..." Ulquiorra commented, as he turned around to leave.
At the same time...
"That's an interesting ability...woman." Aizen stated, as he once again watched the memories of Ulquiorra in a monitor installed in his private room. The monitor showed Orihime's healing ability, when she used it to completely regenerate Chad's arm.
On the other side of Las Noches...
"Good night, Seigen-sama." Matsuri closed the door of Seigen's room and started to walk through the long corridor that led to her own room. "I wonder if I'll be able to sleep. I have so many things going in my head and...being in the middle of Hueco Mundo... Gosh, I hope you're better than I am, Fujimaru."
"Who's Fujimaru? Your boyfriend?" A high-pitched female voice, sounded from behind Matsuri, causing her eyes to widen.
"Please, like if she even has one." Another female voice, this one a little bit deeper answered to the first one. Matsuri quickly turned around to face them, but never expected what was now in front of her. Two teenage-looking female Arrancars were chuckling, as they saw the look in Matsuri's eyes.
"I don't know. She's pretty, that I'll give her." The Arrancar with the more high-pitched voice advanced and carressed Matsuri's left cheek. She had long, black hair with two pigtails which reached down her back, a slender build, and her visible right eye was pink. The remnants of her mask covered her left eye, which was shaped around her eye with teeth dotted along the bottom of the mask and there was an extension from her mask into her hair which gave it the appearance of a hair tie. Her revealing attire consisted of a frilled skirt with a small black bow on the front, white half-sleeves worn from the elbows down to the wrists, and what appeared to be thigh-length black-colored, white-outlined boots. She wore what appeared to be white bracelets on her arms, and she also wore a white-colored, black-outlined material that tied around her neck, which revealed a fair portion of her stomach as well as her chest. "Who's Fujimaru, Shinigami?"
"My...My brother." She nervously answered. "What are two Arrancars doing here?!"
"Your brother, you say?" The other one asked. She had tomboyish features. Her hair was blonde, short and slicked with a slight fringe over her right eye and her eyes were green. Her Hollow mask was positioned around her right eye, completely obscuring it from view, with teeth dotted around the bottom. Her attire consisted of a white dress with short sleeves, which were slit and ran slightly past her elbows, and an upturned collar. Her dress was also unzipped at the front revealing her cleavage. Her dress also exposes her waist and part of her thighs on both sides of her body. A black sash was worn loosely around her hips. She wore black tabi socks and low-heel sandals. She completed her outfit with a white, segmented choker and a series of white bracelets on her arms. "That's not good, right Loly?"
"Indeed, it isn't, Menoly!" Loly agreed with her partner, before she pushed Matsuri hard against the nearby wall, causing her to fall on her bottom. "A Shinigami bitch coming to Aizen-sama's Las Noches... how does she dare?"
"W-Who are you? Why are Arrancar here?" Matsuri painfully asked, before both started laughing like crazy.
"You're quite funny, Shinigami! You're the one who dares to step into Hollow territory and you find our presence strange?" Menoly asked to the girl, before she mockingly stomped her in the left shoulder a couple of times. "I'm Arrancar #34, Menoly Mallia."
"And I'm Arrancar #33, Loly Aivirrne." Loly introduced herself with a theatrical bow. "And we are Aizen-sama's aides. His personal servants."
"Servants?!" Matsuri asked in fear. Menoly introduced herself as Arrancar #34, which meant there were at least 34 Arrancars and by what they were saying, all served Aizen. "You mean you work for Aizen?"
"Show some respect, bitch!" Loly suddenly slapped Matsuri across the face with the back of her right hand. As Matsuri's head turned to the left due to the impact, her head became fuzzy and she wasn't sure if what she was seeing was really someone or just an illusion created by her mind. At the end of the corridor, near her room, stood what seemed to be another Arrancar, based on the outfit. His or her face was hidden behind an elongated, white mask covered with eight holes. The Arrancar wore a dress garb that covered its entire body as opposed to the normal jacket and hakama. It also wore a frilly nobles' coat that acted as its replacement jacket and a single white gentleman's glove.
"I heard he used to be your superior while he was in the Gotei 13. You should address him properly." Menoly scolded Matsuri, causing her to stare back to the two female Arrancars with a glazed look in her eyes. "Or... is there any reason for you to address to him in such a familiar way?"
"Huh? Is that it, bitch? I see..." Loly angrily grabbed Matsuri by her throat and started to choke her. The Shinigami girl looked to her left by the corner of her eyes, desperately wanting to ask the other Arrancar for help, but he had disappeared already. "You came here to have Aizen-sama for yourself, isn't it? You want him, don't you? You're such a bitch! I should kill you right here!"
"Hey, Loly, calm down! Aizen-sama has plans for her! Don't get yourself in trouble now!" Menoly tried to warn her partner, but her words only fueled Loly's anger even more.
"Plans, huh? I'm sure this whore sure likes it that Aizen-sama has plans for her! I hate her!" Loly tightened her grip even more, with Matsuri's eyes starting to roll into the back of her head.
"I believe that's enough, ladies." A male's voice sounded from behind them, startling both. Loly immediately released Matsuri and turned around to face him. "If Aizen-sama has plans for her like he has for all of us, then it means we're all comrades. Shouldn't you behave as such?"
"Who are you, bastard? I don't know you!" Loly questioned the man with wavy dark brown hair, who simply increased his spiritual pressure to prove what he was about to say.
"The new Primera Espada, Coyote Starrk." Starrk lowered his spiritual pressure as soon as both Loly and Menoly fell to her knees. "Here I am so sleepy and you two force me to put on such an effort. Geez..."
"Hey, Starrk! You knocked the other one out." A small, female Arrancar with light green hair was poking Matsuri in the face with her finger, but she didn't woke up.
"Geez... Truly a lot of effort." Starrk groaned and went to pick up Matsuri in his arms and carried her to her room. "Let's go, Lilynette. I'll need a good night of sleep after this."
Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book
GOLDEN!
"I don't get it! Why was nearly the entire chapter about that girl?! Why can't I have my own chapter?! I don't like it!" Mashiro rolled all around the ground, throwing a temper tantrum. "She's annoying, annoyyyyingggg!"
"Stop whining!" Kensei shouted angrily, with swell veins popping up all over his face.
"No noooo! I don't like it! I don't like it!" Mashiro completely ignored Kensei and continued to sulk.
"If I had my own chapter..." Rose started to wonder, while he picked up his guitar. "It would be pure art, that's for sure."
"I would like mine to be action-packed, beating up enemies left and right." Kensei told them, while he knocked both fists together a couple of times.
"Mine would be filled with heroic efforts, saving girls and picking cats of trees... how true heroes should be!" Love said, with his glasses glowing. "But since you were so interested, what would be your chapter about, Mashiro?"
"It would have a pony... no! Lots of ponies! With lots of colors and magic abilities!" Mashiro revealed, causing everyone who was listening to sweatdrop. "And they would live in Karakura Town, and they would go to school and they would go to the beach and they..."
"Well, my chapter would be about..."
"STOP! The content of your chapter would be rated MA, which isn't even allowed in this website!" Love interrupted Lisa before she could say what she wanted. By that time, Ichigo joined them with an angry look on his face.
"Why are you guys so upset?! I'm the main character and I don't even appear regularly on this story!" Ichigo shouted angrily, as he was the one with most motives to be upset. Meanwhile, in Seireitei, more specifically at the Sōgō Kyūgo Tsumesho, Fujimaru was unable to sleep. While Ganju, Kira and Hisagi were all sound asleep in the room they shared with him, Fujimaru stared to the window with a sad look on his face.
"Overlooked..." He said with a tear slowly rolling down his face. "I wasn't even a part of today's chapter..."
Author's note: With this chapter Ichigo has subdued his Hollow, but still can't use it to fight, Uryu and Orihime have regained their powers and Chad is already a bit stronger. They're ready to go to Soul Society for the game's storyline without breaking the plotline established by anime and manga.
