Bleach (c) Tite Kubo


Once More To See You Again


History Repeats


Rukia's Denreishiki goes off and she bursts from her hiding place.

The boys shout in alarm, stammering and sputtering confused questions and accusations.

Rukia ignores it all, focusing on the mission, knocking Ichigo off his bed and out of his body just in time to avoid the greedy claw of the Hollow bursting into the room from its hidden pocket dimension.

Ichigo gets to work once Rukia snaps him out of his stupor. She orders him to go for the head. He draws his Zanpakutou and rushes into action, but his movements are sloppy. Clumsy and untrained. So much energy wasted in his combat. Its inelegant, ineffective and utterly barbaric how he flails the sword around like some brutish club.

Rukia'll have to train him out of so many mistakes before they form into bad habits, assuming the idiot doesn't get himself killed in the next five minutes.

Regrettably, right now its all Rukia has to work with until she gets her power back.

She can only give curt directions to which Ichigo barks back irritated retorts.

Problem is, they aren't the only ones in the room with a tantalizingly high spiritual output.

The Hollow codenamed Acidwire takes advantage of a brief lull in combat, knocking Ichigo away with its tail and howling that characteristically distorted roar before its talon surges towards Kaien.

Kaien, who'd been watching the entire thing frozen in place on his bed, shirking away from the whole battle as much as possible and eyes wide in naked primal fear.

Time slows to a trickle. And Rukia felt a lance of ice pierce her heart. History was repeating itself right before her eyes. The past superimposing itself on the present.

The image of another hollow, a foul gloating creature, surging towards the Lieutenant they all loved and admired. Twisting his body into a mocking ghoulish effigy.

But Rukia has enough wits to realise this is a completely different situation.

Its not a battle to protect honour. This is a fight to protect life, and before she even finishes thinking about it, Rukia's already moving. Already tackled him off the bed, but not fast enough to avoid one of Acidwire's claws scoring a long gash up her forearm.

"Stay the hell away from my brother, you big ugly prick!" Ichigo snarls, spurred by rage, and slices clean through the beast's arm for the trouble.

Ichigo follows through with a downward stroke against the Hollow's bone mask. But its a rookie move. Too shallow and the Hollow pushes back with some force. Ichigo digs deeper into an unknown reservoir of strength and forces his Zanpakutou forwards until the top corner of the mask cracks, revealing the human soul it was underneath.

It howls its pain and retreats into the void between worlds.

Fantastic.

They have the opportunity to regroup and re-strategize. If the Hollow failed to acquire its first target - first two targets, they have to figure out who the third will be.

"Thank you." Kaien says breathlessly, clearly not quite processing what just happened.

"Kai, you alright?" Ichigo's voice was curiously distant and hoarse as he stood there, motionless and staring vacantly into space.

"Y-yeah. I'm okay. Rukia, you know you can get off me, right?"

Rukia remembers herself and stands up. She's been shielding him with her (comparatively tiny) body the entire time.

"Wha - Oh god, you're bleeding."

Rukia looks down at her arm, the injury staining her borrowed yellow pajamas a rich crimson. She disregards it, they're still in a combat situation.

"It got away. We're heading after it." Rukia orders.

"Oh hell no. You're not going anywhere until we dress and bind that wound. Last thing we need right not is to discover whether or not Shinigami can get septicemia. Hang on, there's a First Aid kit somewhere around here." Kaien's words come out stern but there's a fearful undertone he's trying and failing miserably to hide by clinging to something he can do to help.

"I don't need it. My healing kido will be more than sufficient to take care of it." Rukia tries to dismiss his concerns, but Kaien's already on the move, negotiating across Acidwire's damage to one of the desks in the room.

"Oi, Ichigo. Don't stand there like a braindead gerbil. Help me out here, will ya?" Kaien slaps Ichigo's shoulder on the way back to Rukia.

"I have a question." Ichigo's voice is a hoarse whisper and he still hasn't moved a muscle. He's staring blankly into the space the Hollow retreated to.

"What is it?" Rukia asks.

Kaien returns with a small pack decorated by a white and green cross, fishes out utensils some liquid and cloth to help clean and dress Rukia's cut. Rukia winces at the disinfectant but offers no other signs of distress. She's a skilled combatant veteran and this isn't the first wound she's received in battle.

"I got a good look at that thing's face. Tell me the truth: Why was it Inoue's brother?"

"What? Y-You can't be serious. Are you sure?" Kaien pauses halfway in his ministrations to face his brother aghast.

Ichigo grits his teeth, "I saw what I saw. Now tell me - tell us what the hell is going on here. Why the would Inoue's brother turn into that? And why would he come after us?"

Rukia looks at them both in turn, matching Ichigo's raw fury and Kaien's abject horror with cool trained detachment. And explained.


Author's note:

And we have episode 2-3 with Acidwire's attack in Ichigo's bedroom. Kaien be scared shitless (can't really blame the boy) aaaaand... I guess this is going to be a more serious story than I though.

Oh well, I'm game. :)

Regards,
Aurora313