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Lost Heart
Harmony is not with us.
Mortal is the hope of anyone who's even trying.
Stand up, be strong, no right, no wrong. Forever else believe yourself.
"What? You want me to go?"
"Renji, do I need to repeat myself?"
"Ah, no Captain Kuchiki, that's not what I meant. I'm just surprised to be sent to…that place again…"
"If you're suggesting that you're not emotionally fit to carry out your duties, I'm sure some other squad will be able to—"
"No captain, I'll be fine!"
Byakuya eyed Renji suspiciously before sighing."Very well, Rukia has also been picked as well since she knows the area best. You will do your best to protect her." Renji stiffened, guilt filling his insides.
"Of course sir…" he said this knowing full well that if he didn't protect Rukia, his Captain would never rest until he was dead.
"Then I'll take my leave. Send a report back as soon as you've assessed the situation. We'll send back up if needed."
Renji privately doubted that he wouldn't need back up to handle a simple arrancar. But he held his tongue and nodded, inwardly cursing.
How can I go back after what happened? But if I'm having a bad day because of it, it'll be nothing next to what Rukia feels.
Another wave of guilt churned at his insides. Yet a grain of defiance was planted inside his soul. He couldn't let his emotions stop him from performing his Soul Reaper duties. Renji Abarai would never lose to his own soul.
"I feel like this place is important to me somehow…" Ichigo murmured, deep in thought. Trying to remember why it was so important.
He and Nel were standing by a river. Behind them ran some sort of machine on tracks and to their left was some sort of road that stretched out over the water.
Nel was looking perplexed as to how to help him remember.
"Should we stand closer to the edge? Maybe something will come to you…"
It was worth a try. Wrapping his cloak tighter around himself and pulling his hood down even further, Ichigo followed Nel to the riverbank.
They stood there for minutes. Nel was gazing at the fish in the stream and getting that playful look in her eye again. But she restrained herself for Ichigo.
Finally, he said, "Blood…"
"Blood…?" she echoed back at him, not knowing whether to feel happy or sad. "Anything else?"
He was quiet for a minute, and then replied, "A hollow….blood and a hollow…."
"Strange…" Nel murmured, looking puzzled. "But at least you remembered something, so this is a good thing!" She nearly started dancing with joy, but settled for jumping into the stream, spraying Ichigo with cold water.
"Hey!" he said, scowling, "Watch it!" Nel ignored him as she raised a wiggling fish triumphantly in the air.
"What are you people doing?" asked a bored voice from behind Ichigo who turned around to see a small dark haired girl.
"Oh, look! A human can see us!" said Nel, still bristling with enthusiasm. "The World of the Living is even stranger than I thought!"
The dark haired girl looked slightly taken aback, but regained her cool appearance. "I see, so you're ghosts then…"
Nel tilted her head childishly, "perhaps we are."
"Well, you better watch out then," the girl said, glancing from the juvenile woman in the water to the tall silent man in the cloak. "Monsters normally appear around here after dark. You'd best be on your way."
Ichigo nodded, acknowledging the young human who in turn, smiled a small smile at him before turning away. As soon as she was gone, he turned to Nel was still looking for more fish.
"Nel, do you think the monsters she was talking about are hollows?" he asked just as the Arrancar girl made another great splash.
"Most likely," she replied, quite at ease. "You wanna go scare some back into Hueco Mundo? It'll be fun to take a break anyway."
Ichigo frowned, about to refuse, but Nel was already running back up the hill to the road.
"Alright fine," he growled irritably and followed.
Night was indeed falling quickly, and soon, in no time at all, Ichigo could feel a hollow's presence enter the human world.
With seeming never ending energy, Nel grabbed Ichigo's hand, using sonido to get there faster. They arrived just as a fish faced hollow was crawling out of a dimension. It screamed a cry of hunger and started making its way towards a soul of a girl who was stiff with fright.
"Hungryyyyyyy," the hollow shrieked, "Tastyyyyy Soullll!"
With a little push from Nel, Ichigo found himself in front of the hollow. Sighing, thinking it was a waste of time, he let out a bit of spiritual power to grab its attention. The hollow had frozen, quavering in fear. Ichigo strolled lazily up to it and snarled, "Go back home or I'll kill you and devour you here and now."
"Y—yes k—king," it whimpered and retreated into the inky blackness of the next dimension.
Nel squealed with delight.
"Oh shut up," snapped Ichigo, crossing his arms, "why should I even bother wasting my time on pathetic weaklings?"
Nel couldn't see the frown on his face since it was too dark and his hood was pulled low.
"Oh don't be so grumpy! That was funny!" Nel was laughing, but suddenly stopped mid snort. Ichigo had sensed it too, and just in time. He quickly used sonido to avoid the light blue arrows that shot at him from the shadows, landing exactly where he had been standing.
"Oh on the contrary," said a cool voice and a young man stepped into a lit spot on the road, "I don't think that was funny at all."
Ichigo shot a quick look at Nel, she seemed to recognize this person, but didn't say a word.
The human turned his attention to Ichigo.
"Mind telling me how you sent that hollow packing, arrancar?"
"Uh," Ichigo was slightly confused, but decided to be truthful…well, a bit. "I told it to go home."
The latter raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Ichigo's frown deepened. This human talked too much.
"Because the look on its face was totally worth it!" Nel cut in before Ichigo could utter a word. "Go away, Quincy. You're ruining the mood. As he said…." She pointed at Ichigo and quoted his words, well, some of them, "Why should we even bother wasting our time on a pathetic weakling like you?"
The human that Nel called "Quincy" narrowed his eyes at Nel and pushed up his glasses in a dignified manner. Then with the air of being issued a challenge said, "So….I'm a "pathetic weakling" am I?"
"Does it matter?" Ichigo spoke before Nel could say 'Yes!', "Look, I don't care if you're weak or strong. All I know is that I made a promise not to harm anyone if I could help it while I was here. So please, for your own health, mind your own business."
The Quincy looked surprised at this statement, yet he hid it quickly with a dry laugh. "Why would a hollow promise such a thing, much less an arrancar for that matter?"
But Ichigo was already turning away, plainly ignoring him.
"Let's go Nel, I wish to continue searching…"
Nel nodded and followed. They had both walked no more than three steps before Ichigo (without looking) caught an arrow that almost grazed the side of his cloak.
"Look Quincy, go away. You're annoying." Ichigo snapped the arrow in half and let it fall to the ground. Nel laughed and started skipping ahead.
"Let's go to that big road!" She suggested happily, "there were so many things moving on it. Perhaps you'll find something there."
"Very well…"
"Hold it!" shouted the Quincy, appearing suddenly in front of them, "I can't let you do whatever you wish here in this world."
Nel snickered and then in a very loud whisper turned back to Ichigo and said, "Wow, you're right! He is annoying!"
The Quincy looked a little disgruntled at this comment and drew a bright blue bow out of thin air. Ichigo looked at him, almost interested.
"Hey," he asked Nel, because she seemed more likely to know, "What are Quincys? Are they Soul Reapers?"
"Hardly," she replied, pulling her cloak more tightly around herself. "They're humans that are like Soul Reapers, they kill hollows too. But when it all comes down, they're still humans and much weaker than Soul Reapers."
"WEAK?"
The Quincy's angry shout turned the two Espadas' attention back on him.
"Oh dear, I think we made him mad…" said Nel in a sorry voice, but Ichigo heard sarcasm in it. After debating with himself for a moment, he decided to follow her lead.
"Seems so, should we apologize? Although…I don't really know what to say sorry for…."
"STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!" The Quincy yelled and fired what seemed like a hundred arrows at them both.
"Ah, he thinks he can beat us like that?" exclaimed Nel, fainting sadness, "Should we not dodge? Maybe letting one hit us will make him feel better."
"He is a sorry sight," Ichigo agreed, loud enough so the Quincy could hear, "Being more than human but weaker than a Soul Reaper must be so depressing." He and Nel let the arrows hit their bodies and the weapons bounced off harmlessly.
Interesting, they're composed of spirit particles.
"You know," Nel suggested, almost unable to keep herself from giggling at the Quincy's shocked face. "Maybe we should pretend he can actually stand up to us, and then he won't be so depressed."
Ichigo was about to propose that he should just stun him with his own spirit force when a girl and a tall boy rush forward to join the Quincy.
"Uryu! What's going on? Who you fighting?" said the girl who gave Ichigo and Nel a fearful glance.
"Orihime, stay away!" warned the Quincy, not removing his eyes from the two figures whom he had just tried to stop. "Those two are incredibly strong. My attack was repelled by their own spiritual pressure! And they haven't even tried to fight me!"
"Oh….more Quincys?" Ichigo asked Nel who shook her head.
"No, but they do have odd powers for humans."
"Are they arrancar?" the tall boy asked, talking to Uryu.
"I thought so at first, but now I'm not so sure…"
Ichigo and Nel exchanged amused and pitying glances. Apparently, Quincy's were depressed and stupid.
"Orihime…" Uryu spoke in a commanding voice, "You stay behind me and Sado. Be prepared to heal us and put up your shield. Sado, you take on the girl, I'll take on the guy."
"Uh, Uryu?" said Sado, looking from Ichigo to Nel. "Which one's the girl?"
It was a completely understandable question for both Espadas were wearing cloaks that concealed most of their clothes and distinguishable features.
"I am!" Nel waved at the human, smiling. "I'm the girl!"
"Shut up!" snapped Uryu and drew his bow. Both humans were preparing to fight, but Ichigo was losing interest rather fast. Their human spirit force was nowhere near his own. He could easily take them down, even with holding back under his spiritual pressure restraining cloak.
"Come Nel," he said and used sonido to move high up in the air to get away from them.
"Awww, don't you want to play with them?" She asked, giving him another pouty face as she leapt up to join him.
"No," he replied, and gazed at his surroundings. They were right in the middle of the huge cluster of homes. "Let's go to a place where there aren't humans. It's getting too dark now to make out much. I doubt I'll find anything right now." He and Nel then started walking in mid air, trying to make out a place where there weren't many lights. Finally, a place far to their left was a great black patch suddenly popped into view.
"Let's go."
