Ace was getting his clothes out of the Rukia-void closet, and a paintball hit his head through the window, going through him and exploding against the wall. It was a summons from Urahara. "That prick shot it through my head!" Ace raged. He grumbled as he packed some things. It was only his hoodie smashed into a bag with his narcolepsy pills and vitamins. He knew he'd be gone a few days and honestly had no idea if Urahara actually had some miracle drug.
Ichigo came in, and Ace pointed to the wall. "Time to go."
"Yeah…" He got his own things, and they left. Ace left the note on the table for the girls, telling them to watch certain episodes of shows so he could watch it with them when he came back. It felt like he hadn't been around enough. Like he was failing them. On their way out, Isshin came down, and knew they were going somewhere, but seemed unbothered.
"Well, good luck with your travels!" Ace and Ichigo nodded, and the man gave his son a lucky charm to borrow while he was out. Ace's suspicion meter shot up ten fold. Isshin knew something. He knew something was going on. Ichigo didn't react outwardly how Ace did inwardly.
They waved goodbye. "Help Yuzu do some cooking, don't start making her do all of it," Ace called. They ran to the shop.
Ace couldn't bring himself to give the obvious reasons that Ichigo's father knew things he wasn't telling. It was so suspicious, but his friend just didn't see it. He wouldn't say anything. When they got there, Ace sensed Marco inside. Inoue and Chad were there. "Whoa, what are you guys doing here?"
"We're coming to help rescue Kuchiki-chan," Inoue said. Chad nodded.
"I didn't know if you'd actually come." So Ichigo knew and didn't share. Ace wasn't angry about this. Well, it was kind of annoying, but if Ichigo wasn't sure, it could have slipped his mind. Ishida was apparently probably coming, too, which Ace was surprised at. But he headed inside, while the other three waited for the last person.
Ace saw Marco and smiled. "Not worried, are you?"
"Kind of jealous. I don't get any action in this place," Marco said in an easy tone.
"Ace, here you go," Urahara said, handing Ace a dissolvable pill. He held it in his palm.
"Are you sure its safe and will work?"
"Of course!" Ace didn't believe him. "When you take this pill, it will keep your mind and body active for eight days after taking it. Of course, all that time will catch up with you and you'll be completely useless and helpless. Just make sure you're safe before then," he said positively. Walking past him, he addressed the other three.
Ace sensed Ishida coming, too. "Why are you working alongside him?" Ace asked. "Didn't you just meet or something? He was spying on you - and me."
"He's searching for something I'm interested in. I'm going along with him so he'll tell me if he finds it."
"What is it?" Ace assumed it was something from their other life, and didn't know what to expect the answer was. But Urahara called Ace over to enter soul society. Marco made sure nobody else was looking before he pecked Ace on the lips. It was the first kiss he'd remembered ever having, even if he knew this was just the latest of what must have been countless kisses.
"Good luck." Ace nodded, and hurried out.
Urahara liked to be vague and morbid, it seemed, as he flat out told them they were very likely to die even before getting to their destination. "As long as you follow my directions, you'll make it there safely. Ace, take the pill." Ace looked down at it on more time before he put it on his tongue. "Side effects are a racing heart and sensitivity to touch," he added with a wink.
"You asshole-!"
"Now, time to go! To our secret cavern," he said. They went inside another part of the house, a back part and climbed down the ladder. Ace sensed Marco waiting there while he went underground. Waiting for him to leave "safely" maybe. Already Ace's heart was thrumming, and the air made his skin itch. This was not what he was promised, motherfucker.
He saw Ace's discomfort. "It'll only last an hour, calm down."
"Give me all the information at once, not one at a fucking time!"
"Where's the fun in that?" Ace seethed. It was very uncomfortable. He hoped it really did last only a few hours. Those who hadn't been in the underground area were amazed by it. Ace was mostly focused on leveling out his breathing. Ichigo asked if he was okay.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Uncomfortable," he said, trying to calm his racing heart. Ichigo touched his shoulder in worry, but Ace hissed at the pain. "Urahara, how am I supposed to fight if everything I touch hurts?!" Ace shouted, frustrated and panicked about being completely crippled in the fight. He did not want to die or fail again.
"Really, it will last one hour. Then you'll be back to normal. You'll just have to deal with the discomfort in that hour. Well, now it's forty minutes. Then you're all set, I promise. If I'm not correct and you die, Marco has pledged to kill me. Of course I won't want that! Now, everyone focus."
He snapped his fingers, and a large doorway was formed, the sides looking like there was white tape wrapped around it. "This is the gateway to soul society. Please listen carefully. I will now teach you the way to go through this door without dying." He pushed shinigami Ichigo out of his body, his new sword - looking more like a glorified kitchen knife than a sword - was held by a lighter looking holster. It was wrapped in bandages.
Over all, the last one looked more like a sword but also - in a way - a bit cheap. It wasn't a real shinigami zanpakuto. At least that's what Urahara had said. So hopefully he was okay with using this one, a big switch.
Ace didn't understand quite a bit of the explanation. Big, unfamiliar words were said, but the gist was that the gate would allow them to stay in their normal form, since usually those that go to the soul society are only souls. If they weren't to go through this gate, their souls were leave their bodies and they'd be trapped by the chain of fate, linking them forever to their body until they became a hollow eventually. It would also be hard to move if they were chained to their living body.
The issue arose with him saying their problem was "time". "The allotted time to make it through the crack between the living world and soul society - the dangai - is four minutes. If you don't make it in four minutes, then you will forever be trapped inside. Never to find your way out. Plus, inside the crack, there are currents that are used to keep hollows from entering and passing through by accident or otherwise.
"If you so much as touch that current, getting out of the dangai will be impossible." He sounded so foreboding. He sure was a dramatic guy, wasn't he? But Ace hoped this explanation would take longer and longer so the hour would pass before he had to do anything that might be hindered by the pill's affects.
Inoue asked, "Then what should we do?" sounding nervous.
There was a new voice and small presence, in the form of a black cat. It's eyes were orange, the only source of color on its body. "Just move forward."
"Yoruichi!" Inoue said in surprise. Whoa, a talking cat?! Cool! But for some reason, he wasn't overly surprised a talking cat existed.
"Didn't I tell you? The heart and soul are connected. What's important is how your heart thinks." That was a nice saying and all, but it didn't make much sense to Ace. He didn't ruin the moment, and wouldn't want to get on the cat's bad side when he was already the complete outsider. The others all went to school together. Ace had been around Inoue very little, and Chad was for only a little while at a time. And most of that time he was silent. Ishida he'd also not seen since their hollow contest. Ace still assumed he'd won, but didn't want to ask and risk losing his championship title he gave himself. "Only those that can do it may follow me."
Crap, he didn't know how to think with his heart. Everyone else seemed to. "What are you talking about? Everyone is here because we have made the decision and are determined to follow it!" Ichigo said.
Ah, it was just resolve. Good, that made things easier.
"You should know very well, kid. If you fail, you'll never return," Yoruichi said in a dramatic way, too.
"Well, that would suck, but abandoning a friend would be worse in my eyes," Ace said.
"Well said," the cat replied. Urahara did something, and the doorway that was previously empty started to swirl until it showed a shimmery portal. Ace felt nothing from the other side, as it was another dimension.
"The moment it's opened, you guys will dash in there. Ready?" Urahara asked. They nodded, and did as they were told. The moment it was possible to enter, they sprinted inside. They were to follow the cat.
The place looked like… well, disgusting. It was like pollution leaking out of the walls. That cartoonish way, where the slop just oozes from tight spaces. It even smelled terrible. Ace and Yoruichi was the only one not zoned out and started running forward. "Don't zone out! Hurry and run!" she (he?) shouted. They all began to run.
Ace could not help the just plethora of filthy words that were punched out of his throat with each step as pain lanced up his legs from the contact with the ground through his boots. "Is he okay?" Inoue asked, panting.
"39 minutes until I'm fine!" Ace shouted back. He ignored the pain, he wasn't weak, even if it was incredibly uncomfortable. But he didn't stop because he couldn't. He couldn't wait to let it pass painlessly. He had to deal with it and wouldn't whine and bitch. Just swear up a storm. "Fuck, fuck, shit, shit, fuck, fuck," Ace grunted between his teeth. The pollution stuff behind them was following up, as if it were chasing them. "Can I use my fire on this shit?!" Ace called. Inoue didn't know what he meant by fire, but Yoruichi knew, and told him he could not.
They had to run, they couldn't attack or more attention would be brought onto them before they even managed to exit. Ace heard before he knew that Ishida's cloak got caught in the slop, and he started to get pulled inside.
"Don't use your zanpakuto! The crack will never let it out!" Yoruichi shouted. Chad ripped apart Ishida's cloak and threw him over his shoulder. "Hurry! We must hurry!" But then they heard a whirring sound. Ace sensed something from behind.
"Something is coming up behind us, Yoruichi! Non-living!" Ace shouted.
"That's the seimichio, the janitor that comes out every seven days! Damn it, why now?!" the cat yelled. They couldn't fight it, all they could do was sprint their asses off and hope they weren't too slow. Seeing the exit, Ace jumped first, being the fastest as he was unconsciously making his body lighter as fire beneath the surface and easier to move.
The train was nearly on the others as they were expunged from the crazy, pollution hall way. He landed and shouted in pain, but wasn't actually injured. The others landed on an orange plate, translucent. That seemed to be Inoue's ability. Ace still had no idea what Chad's was. Not a clue. He'd bet brute strength.
But they'd all survived! "Yoruichi, please tell me we have some down time before fighting," Ace said.
"We have much time before it's time to fight. The side effects will pass before then," the cat said, and Ace sighed in relief. Looking around, he saw they were in an old looking place. It was a dump. It smelled gross, and the buildings were dilapidated. "This is the outskirts. The place where souls come when they first come to soul society. It is the poorest and most free area. It surrounds where the shinigami live."
"Hold up. So, the collective human race got totally ripped off after death? How is this place heaven?" Ace asked. "Rukia said that soul society was a better place than the human world. This isn't hell, but its not exactly paradise, is it?"
"...He does have a point," Ishida agreed.
"How do we get to where the shinigami live?" Ichigo asked. Nobody answered Ace's question and criticism. Yoruchi didn't reply, so perhaps she knew it was the truth. Now Ace definitely didn't want to die and be sent here.
"That one," Yoruichi said, looking straight ahead at a place with much nicer buildings. Ichigo ran at it, raring to go.
"Wait, I'm not ready yet!" Ace shouted. The cat shouted at him to stop, too, but only that he would be killed. Before Ichigo was killed, though, stone pillars shot up out of the ground and formed a tall, massive wall.
"Idiot!" Yoruichi shouted furiously. Ichigo seemed a bit shocked. But then Ace sensed something falling from above, and looked up to see a massive humanoid creature land right where Ichigo had been standing seconds earlier. He really was huge!
"It's been so long… someone who wants to go through the gate without a pass. I finally have something to do. I'll treat ya well, kid!" the giant, almost ape-like man said. Asking who he was, Yoruichi explained the man was a guardian of the gate. An elite in the shinigami world. Jidanbou.
"Nobody has ever gotten past him into tororei." That was the main area of where the shinigami operated. Ace looked at the fancy wall, which now hid the well cleaned and properly handled buildings, and then glanced to this side. Ace was reminded of something. This felt highly familiar. But of course, since he couldn't find the source, he assumed it was from his other life.
Ace dashed to the side, going in a loop to beside Jidanbou. He used his haki fingers to scale the flat, smooth surface, feeling like every time his hands touched the wall was being impaled by spikes. Jidanbou saw this, and swung his ax against the wall, as if trying to flatten him like an insect on a wall. But he just left a large hole in the wall. "Got an entrance!" Ace shouted. "Ahahaha!" He dropped down, but found the wall start to repair itself. Yoruichi said that wouldn't work either. Fuck. Ace retreated a bit, and saw Jidanbou very angry at Ace.
"Ah, oops!" Ace said. "Accident!" he added lightly. He didn't want to get pounded by a massive gorilla man with axes. No way, no how. Ichigo got his attention, as he was the one to challenge him first. Ace sat down on the ground to watch, not planning on interfering in his fight. He already got pissy about a tiny bit of flame as a distraction.
"Ichigo!" his friends shouted, running over as the orange head now faced Jidanbou alone.
"Hey! You think he wants your interference?" Ace called. They paused, but ran forward anyways. Ace sighed, and stood up. The oldest teen listened to them argue with Ichigo about helping him fight, but the one to have the final say was the enemy himself. He refused to fight anything but one on one.
Ace popped his neck, and stayed put as Ichigo fought the massive man. From his point of view, he didn't see the part shinigami. All he saw was Jidanbou's large body, and his repeatedly swinging his fancy stone axes down, over and over, where Ichigo should be. Ace would have been tapping his foot in apprehension if it wouldn't hurt.
Right now, he realized how often he didn't stay perfectly still. It was weird. Ace closed his eyes, and focused his haki. Ichigo wasn't dead, but he was also checking out how many people were on the other side of the gate. Even if they defeated the man, they had to get through them. They needed a plan.
"There are about 80 people gathered on the other said of the gate."
"Roughly?"
"Roughly."
"We need a plan. You all should have waited, " Yoruichi said in annoyance. Finally, the pounding ended with the sounds of shattering and cracking stone. Jidanbou held his two ax handles, with no blades remaining. He was in shock, then disbelief, and then sadness. He was literally grieving his lost axes. He started to cry about the destroyed weapons, and Ace felt kind of bad for him. To cry like that in front of an opponent. Though he did say he'd never lost in hundreds of years. Maybe he didn't know how to properly react to a lost battle, no matter how short lived it was.
Ichigo was awkward, and apologized for destroying his axes. Ace held in a snicker. Ace would be holding those ax chunks triumphantly, laughing. He wondered what Ichigo truly thought of his attitude about fighting and killing hollows. How much joy he took it hurting enemies. He seemed to try to avoid the topic. Both of them did.
Ace wasn't even fully sure if they'd made up about their argument. The tense conversation where he doubted what Marco said about his life. It was short and silly, but Ace hadn't gotten into arguments about anything with him before then. And it was something close to Ace's heart. Well, there was no point in thinking about it right now. No point at all.
But Jidanbou did accept his defeat and Ichigo's awkward apology. Ace thought apologizing for winning a fight was stupid, but he did admire those who took defeat in stride and didn't throw fits. And it seemed Jidanbou's fit was fleeting. For Ichigo's kindness, he promised to open the gate.
"No! Ichigo, don't go!"
"What? Why?" he called.
"There's someone ridiculously strong on the other side!" Ace shouted. The person flared brightly in the crowd of fodder shinigami. But Jidanbou opened the gate, though it seemed heavy and generally difficult. But Ace wasn't wrong. When the gate was raised just enough for human shaped people to walk under, someone was waiting there. A man with white hair, wearing the same cape of Captain Kuchiki.
With little hesitation and a sickly smile, Jidanbou's arm was amputated it one sword swing, sending the gate slamming down, locking them out. "You are a gate keeper. It is not your duty to open the gate," and it crushed Jidanbou, who continued to hold it open, sticking to his belief that when he failed, he let the winner inside.
The captain guy really looked like how slime would as a person. His smile too long, too insincere. Ace felt he was good at reading people, and he didn't like this guy. He felt strong, yeah, but he also looked like a prick.
"You are mistaken. When a guardian fails, he should be executed," he said in a false happy voice. Or he really was happy to kill the large man. But Ace admired the guy sticking to his belief, even as he stared imminent death in the face.
30 minutes left and the wind wouldn't hurt his skin. 30 minutes left and his breathing would return to normal. What would it be like to not sleep at all for a week? After all, he slept a lot more often than anyone else. He just hoped everything worked out alright. But Ichigo grew angry at Ichimaru, as Yoruichi voiced, and challenged him to a fight.
The guy was strong, and if Ace was perfectly fine, he'd want to fight. But it wouldn't do to be incapacitated at the very beginning. Ichimaru refused to let them past, and when he heard Icihgo's name, his smile stayed the same, so it was harder to tell his emotion to hearing his name. His words showed surprise, but his face didn't match.
"Kurosaki Ichigo? So, he does exist."
"Yeah? What of it?" Ichigo demanded.
"Well, if its you, I definitely can't pass." Then he seemed to raise his head, as if turning his attention to Ace. He sad nothing of him, but walked further inside, leaving the gate before turning right around, his sword fairly short until he elongated it to stretch all the way to Ichigo, who barely blocked with his larger sword.
The cat shouted, "Oh no! The door is closing again!" And it did. The last thing they saw from the other side, was Ichimaru waving goodbye condescendingly. Ichigo had been thrown back quite a ways, and the others went to ask if he was alright. The hit had hurt him, sent a painful shockwave through his arms when he blocked the attack.
Yoruichi was no longer furious, which was lucky. Ace walked forward towards the wall, passing the group. He stood in front of it, and closed his eyes, extending his haki out as far as he could. He counted the strongest presences. He found eleven, but could tell he was unable to reach the entire property/mini city. Most of the shinigami inside were not anything special. Eleven strongest, and then some more who were strong but not incredibly, dangerously so. Maybe difficult to fight regarding their talents and skill, experience and determination.
Ace wasn't worried, but promised to himself to not be reckless. He'd do his best, but unfortunately, already he was looking forward to some fights. He couldn't help it! It was like the joy of fighting was ingrained in himself, regardless of being in a new world. A different one from before. He still had no idea what made him need to get so strong to fight.
While he hadn't asked Marco and probably wouldn't any time soon, he was still curious. Walking back to the group, sensing people around, even if they were souls and he was unable to sense them back in reality, he walked up to Yoruichi and asked her if there were eleven strongest.
"There are thirteen captains. How could you tell?"
"Just could. One of my abilities. All the rest are mostly weak but for a medium sized handful. But most seem like fodder shinigamis," Ace explained.
Ishida said, "You can't only sense hollows?"
"No, people and hollows. Though in the real world, I have some trouble sensing ghosts. I can still do it, but it's much more difficult. Not here, though," Ace explained.
"So, thirteen big guys, huh? Do they all seem as strong as that captain?" Ichigo asked. Ace shook his head.
"It seemed to vary. There were some that felt stronger, mostly one person, but he is up there. From what I could tell, at least. It might not be perfectly accurate since it was a far distance. That place is like a maze from what I could tell," Ace replied.
"Damn. There are five of us. We'll have to fight three at most."
"No, we don't plan on fighting all of them. We get in and out, find Rukia and avoid any battles. The captains are strong, you wouldn't stand a chance. It's a good thing the gate closed. You're lucky to be alive," Yoruichi said, now speaking to Ichigo.
"Sorry… for being reckless." Ace turned when he felt people before they saw them, a large crowd seeming to come out of nowhere, which was odd. Well, they had a light presence? It was annoying, but he kept that look off his face.
The group were surprised to see people there as they hadn't known they were all there before. They'd seemed to be hiding from them or something. Which made sense since they fell out of the sky and were unfamiliar. Not dressed like these people one bit. "People?" Ishida asked.
"Were they hiding?" Ichigo wondered. Chad stayed silent, as did Ace.
Yoruichi explained that they were the souls that lived in the dilapidated city surrounding the clean and well taken care of area. They were looked down upon by shinigami because they weren't guided there personally by a shinigami. Ace was thoroughly unimpressed with soul society.
Thank goodness he didn't die and come here. Well, now he did not plan on dying and ending up in this shit place. "Are they dangerous?" Ichigo wondered, though none of them were especially afraid of them. They all looked meek but not fearful, but also not aggressive.
"Well, they are showing themselves before us, so probably not," the feline said. Someone, a young voice, came barging through the crowd. Ace didn't recognize him, but the kid knew Chad, and was very excited to see him. He had a bright smile on, despite being somewhat dirty, his clothes not in the best condition. Though it wasn't surprising given where he lived.
"Long time no see! It's me, the parakeet, Shibata!" Shibata said brightly. Ah, the parakeet from before! When Ace helped get rid of the hollow chasing him. Ace smiled lightly, glad he made it there, but also sad he was there at the same time.
Chad went to hang out with Shibata as old friends, Inoue went to help heal Jidanbou's arm, and Ace went to the wall. It was closed off, the door slammed shut and being very heavy. Ace walked along it, feeling the stone surface. It felt like nothing special, but he knew it was able to repair itself previously, when he had a short lived entrance created out of the giant man's accident.
Ace tried sensing inside, but the crowd had diminished from then, no longer waiting outside the wall. Thankfully, the side effects had indeed passed. With his haki, he mapped the area, trying to figure out the maze. Sure, he could just run along the walls, but he might need to stay hidden.
Yoruichi came over, and asked if he was learning anything. "The place is a damn maze," he said. "Don't know how anyone gets around. The crowd on the other side dispersed a bit since Ichimaru came."
"Did you really come from another world?" the cat asked.
"That's right. Don't remember almost any of it. Only a handful of memories came. I don't have powers like the people in this world, or the weirdos in the human world." He didn't say it disrespectfully, but those with the powers in the human world were few. From what Marco said, devil fruits were rare, but not extremely uncommon in some parts of his old world.
Eventually the two went back to the group, Inoue having finished almost healing Jidanbou. "You should speak to them more. They're your allies," the feline said.
"I'm an outsider. Don't really know what to say," he replied honestly. "I've never hung out with them, I don't go to school with them."
"Trials form friendships. Try not to be only solo," she said. The group gathered in a building that wasn't totally falling apart. Sitting down, everyone was gathered. "I want to go over our strategy for today and tomorrow. Because the gate is closed and everyone inside know of the break in attempt, security will be significantly increased. We can no longer use any of the gates. The others are too far away. We should have never tried to go through the gate in the first place." Ichigo looked ashamed and mopey.
"Then how do we get in if we can't use any of the gates?" Ishida asked.
"We'll ignore the gates and get in another way," she said simply. They were surprised there was another way, and Ace asked if they could just climb the wall. "No, and you'll see later why that won't work for any of us." She turned to the only outsider in the room, an old man, and almost cryptically asked him if he knew where somebody else was. Shiba. "In the past, she used to be around this area, but since she's a drifter, I don't know where she would be."
The man looked shocked. Ace leaned back on his hands. He could feel his pockets still full of one bottle of his medicine in case the drug ended up being a dud and useless. "Shiba Kuukaku… Don't tell me you plan to use that to go into the city," he said in shock and a bit of horror. Oh, what were they going to do now? Was it interesting?
But they were interrupted from going into more detail when something came running towards them. A man and animal. Animals felt distinctly different than people or moving objects.
A man went crashing through the door, knocking the thin wood to the ground. The perpetrator was a man on a big boar. The man's name was apparently Ganjyu. The old man was not happy to see him, especially disturbing something that was important. Ace popped his neck, wondering where this would go. He watched in interest.
Ganjyu's care free attitude disappeared when he saw Ichigo, replaced with disgust, annoyance and heavy dislike. "You know this guy?" Ace asked Ichigo, who shook his head, everyone noticing the look Ganjyu gave him.
"What's a punk ass shinigami doing here?" he demanded, pulling his goggles off. When Ichigo didn't answer, not knowing the problem, Ganjyu asked, "Yo, say something. I asked you a question." He got right in Ichigo's face, who looked to be getting annoyed himself. The others stayed quiet then, not interrupting this.
But then things got physical, and after Ganjyu grabbed Ichigo's face roughly, he punched him to the side, now annoyed himself. And the new comer seemed genuinely surprised that the other got irate and annoyed by having his face grabbed by some angry stranger. The old man was especially annoyed by now, but did not look the least bit surprised.
Ace moved to the wall, and sat down against it to watch the unfolding drama, no plan on stepping in even if Ichigo were attacked. This was his business, this guy hated him, not Ace. It seemed kind of ridiculous, but also kind of funny watching them argue. Ichigo acted all cool and calm while Ganjyu just shouted his head off, bragging about his self proclaimed names. One of which was "the ultimate shinigami hater". So, it wasn't surprising when they again came to blows, only to now fight with their swords.
Yoruichi was once again very frustrated with Ichigo for wasting his energy on a pointless fight. Inoue was very bothered by the fight, and wanted it to stop. Ishida looked kind of annoyed and in disbelief. Chad had zero expression, like most times Ace had seen him.
Ganjyu took a moment of surprise when he thrust the sword into the floor, and a batch of quicksand formed, Ichigo barely making it out of its range. Did they even have proper supplies to fix this now damaged building? First the door and now a chunk of the floor. "Aren't all of you poor? Why are you destroying this building?" Ace finally asked.
Ganjyu's buddies turned on him, and he said nothing, unbothered. They weren't strong enough to make Ace bothered a bit. Ganjyu and Ichigo either didn't hear, which was highly possible, or they didn't care. And nobody else was telling them to stop wrecking the house, so they didn't stop. The new comer was pretty tough, and hard punches didn't damage him much.
His buddies stopped targeting Ace when they realized he wasn't going to take any bait, and was actually amused by their anger, and they turned away, frustrated with his non-aggressive attitude despite their disrespect. There were moments to fight, and this little tussle wasn't one in his eyes. But when it was announced that it was already 9:00, the main leader grew as freaked out as his underlings/partners, and they ditched the building on their pigs.
"Well that was embarrassing!" Ace laughed. "Looks like the guy has a curfew."
Ichigo sent him an annoyed look, but didn't take it as Ace saying it to him, but Ganjyu for running away. The elder sighed, and handed Yoruichi a map to the place they intended to go.
Ichigo made a fuss. "I'm not leaving until the jackass comes and finishes our fight!" He was offended by Ganjyu running away, apparently.
"I'm not trying to pick a fight, but we have multiple deadlines to rescue Rukia. I'll be useless in a week. We have to get it done before then, unless you'd like to lug me around everywhere or leave me vulnerable."
"That's right, we should leave," Ishida said. The orange hair teen sighed, but knew they were right, even if it hurt his pride to not stick around to resume the fight, despite his opponent leaving first in a hurry, running away before said fight was over and someone was declared the winner.
Following the map, they headed out to a more farm like area if there were no crops, dry grass on either side of the narrow dirt path they were walking on. Ace had his hands behind his head. While Ichigo argued with Ishida over the map, Inoue walked to Ace. "How are the side effects?"
"I'm good. They seem to be gone - knock on wood. Though it'll suck not sleeping for a week, and then unable to do shit for the week after," he said honestly.
"You have narcolepsy, right? Is that really frustrating?"
"Very. I'm just lucky about the fire or I would have broken some bones or gotten a head injury from passing out by now. I have no other option but hope this pill works for me," he answered. Inoue nodded, and the atmosphere wasn't awkward, so Ace asked her a question in turn. "Are the hair pins magic or something? Fairies come out, don't they?"
She smiled. "I guess they're like magic. But I was told by them that it was from Kurosaki-kun's presence and all. It's the same with Chad. But I'm not bothered. I'll never be alone with them! But they do get upset if I call them out for nothing important," she admitted.
"Being lonely sucks."
"You were lonely?"
"I think so. I don't remember what made me lonely, but I know I once felt the feeling very strongly. I'm slowly getting some memories back, but their not with any context at all. At first it was just thoughts, facts about my previous time. Other times I see the memory in front of my eyes. But everyone I should know are all faceless, like something is actively trying to keep me from remembering anything," he explained, surprised himself with how much he'd said.
It was silent, so he assumed the others had been listening discretely. "Does it make you sad?" the girl asked.
"I'm not sure. I don't want to remember only to miss that life when I have it pretty well off right now. Plus, I know I went through some hard things back then. I'm not sure I want to remember them fully," he replied.
"We're here," Yoruichi said, ending the conversation, as they came across a building with two huge, tall stone arms on either side holding a banner that said "Shiba Kuukaku".
"Wow, I wonder how we'll know if that's their house or not," Ace said sarcastically.
"It looks terrible," Ichigo added bluntly.
"It has a certain… charm to it," Inoue voiced.
"Time to go, follow me," the cat said, and they walked to the plain building through the grass, not having any path to the front double doors. Two men showed up as guards. Stopping, Ace could tell this place was much bigger on the inside. It seemed there was a basement there. Well, the building was pretty small from the outside. It would be cramped if there was nothing more to it.
The two men refused to let them past, and also made it seem they disliked shinigami. Though Ace couldn't blame them since the shinigami abandoned them in the shitty city from before. But when they saw the feline, they knew who she was, and easily allowed them all in, despite their weird clothing compared to this place.
All of them looked quite different outfit-wise. Ace had his usual tanktop and cargo shorts with his tried and true black boots. One of his pockets had a zipper, where his bottle of pills rested. When they entered, it looked like it was only a basement, as the front door immediately went down stairs. It was a dark and fairly long staircase, with the two tall, male guards leading them. They definitely looked like twins.
"I didn't think Yoruichi-dono would be with these kids, forgive our rudeness," one said. Ace didn't know what their names were. They might have said it before, but he honestly hadn't been paying much attention, thinking about the pill he had little faith in.
"It's fine, I apologize for not noticing you first and telling you," the feline replied. When they reached another set of doors, it opened to a large room. Of course being in the basement there was no natural light so everything was lit by a lamp. Ace was surprised there was any technology in this place based on how dilapidated the other place was. Maybe it was only there that was really in shit condition.
The person, Kuukaku, was a woman. A woman who looked very tough, wore very revealing clothes and was missing one arm, a sword strapped to her back. "Hey, long time no see, Yoruichi," she said happily, though there was an air of confidence and challenge in her voice. She seemed like someone who would take no bullshit.
The others were shocked the person they were going to was a woman. Ace was surprised a bit, too, but not as much as they were. "Who… who are these kids?" she asked, looking at the shocked teenagers. It would be hard to mistake Chad for a teen, though, really. She looked unimpressed and suspicious a bit.
"Kuukaku, I actually came here to request a favor," Yoruichi said, though it didn't surprise the other woman at all. Ace could tell she was strong.
"Is it complicated?"
"I think so."
"Hah! It's been a very long time since we've had this kind of situation." Ace wondered if the cat made many trips to soul society, and how she got there if she did. Urahara had to do much work to create that doorway. Surely it wasn't used often if that was the only way in. What a mystery. "Okay, tell me. I love complicated stuff."
Yoruichi explained their task, and Kuukaku had zero problem with doing that. Ace wondered how, but assumed that would be explained soon. "Well, if it's from Urahara, I don't really have a choice. However, I may trust you, but that doesn't mean I trust those kids. I'll be sending one of my own men with you, then, my dependable brother," she stated. "No objections?" Ace snickered. "Think something's funny?"
"Just the guy behind that door. He doesn't get along with someone in our group," Ace said.
"No way, that guy?!" Ichigo demanded. Ace nodded.
"Well, too bad. You'll get along like your life depends on it." When Ganjyu was revealed, Ichigo got angry, his eye twitching as they both shouted at one another. They started fighting again before Kuukaku forcibly stopped them, kicking their heads were her bare feet. Both went down like a sack of bricks.
The other three teens looked annoyed but surprised by this. Was Ichigo this immature at school? It seemed kind of odd. He didn't et angry that easily. Maybe it was from stress. Though Ace didn't see him pick fight behind the scenes when he was around. Though Ace did that as well, so he couldn't complain. He mostly picked fights for fun, not out of anger.
Kuukaku grabbed Ichigo roughly by the hair with her remaining arm. "Listen punk, this is my home! If you don't like the way things are run, then you can get your ass outta here," she said in a dark and truly irate voice.
"So-sorry," Ichigo mumbled, clearing in pain from having his hair yanked.
"Okay, as long as you get it," she added, moving on quickly. "Alright, everyone follow me." They headed down a hall, and Ace saw more overhead lamps. He had no idea how they were there, but was glad to learn only a few moments later. "I planted some light vines between the ceiling and ground," she stated. Ishida asked for Ace what that was, but she didn't answer when they reached some more large doors, and walked into a mostly empty room but for a huge chute, tall and narrow.
Ace had no clue what it was, but it was big. "I'm using that to send you into sereitei." So, they were getting into the shinigami place… with this? Ace asked if it was a portal. "No, something way better. It'll send you from the sky!" They were surprised. Ace was glad he couldn't turn into a pancake from falling from the sky. "My name is Shiba Kuukaku… also the first class fireworks master around here!" she said proudly.
"Whoa, so your sending us as fireworks?" Ace asked in interest.
"You have a death wish, Ace?" Ishida asked in annoyance.
"Yes! You'll be shot outta this thing and all the way to the place you're all aiming to go to," Kuukaku said, seeming to appreciate someone being in awe. She suddenly called up to the guards from above, and told them to raise the floor a the ceiling opened. The poor guys had to bust their ass to crank a lever to lift the floor, which was stone. Dudes were strong.
They were soon back in the open air, seeing the sky clearly, and breeze blowing their hair slightly. "Amazed, kids?! This is my personal firework station!" she said proudly, bragging.
Ishida did not take this well. "Is this a sick joke? We'll die if we're sent in a firework!" Ace did worry about his very killable comrades and surrogate brother, but he didn't think Yoruichi went through all the work to get them there safely only to have them killed.