"Hey! Ichigo!" All of Ichigo's friends surrounded him, their faces twisted with worry.
Ichigo attempted to rid the pistons firing off in his brain by shaking his head and flinging his hair every which way.
"S-Sorry, I didn't get enough sleep last night, heh…heh," Ichigo said with a thin smile covering his face before stretching and doing a fake yawn.
"You sure bro? You were out of it for a while," Keigo asked.
"Yeah…I am good…but can I have a minute with Uryu and Rukia?" Ichigo asked as he gave them a knowing glance, which they nodded back at him, and they started to walk towards a more isolated area.
"Huh!? That four-eyed nerd walks in now the only two girls in our group are meeting alone with him!?" Keigo yelled out.
"Hmm, the thorny rose is finally letting someone pluck her?" Mizuiro asked, taking a sip out of his juice box.
"Ichigo…isn't that sort of person," The gentle giant finally spoke, putting down his parakeet.
"Holy shit, I nearly forgot that you got here," Keigo yelled putting his arms up in the stereotypical karate stance
Lowering himself down Chad got out a cracker and put it through the gates of the cage.
"Ichigo…isn't the romantic type…" Chad muttered as he lightly waved the cracker at the bird but it just stood still shaking keeping its eye on the faraway figure of Ichigo.
"There is definitely something wrong with that bird," Ichigo started
"I agree its soul isn't right, but it's not a hollow," Rukia added, still lightly focusing on the impossible task of shoving the straw through the juice box.
"Tch, as always you shinigami are lacking in your job, Ichigo, it seems like you're getting another lesson," Uryu said, shaking his head while pulling up his glasses.
"Huh? Lesson? This isn't-" before he could continue, Uryu interrupted him.
"Considering your thus so far meager attempts at controlling your spiritual energy I am surprised you could feel something wrong with that bird,"
Ichigo could feel the steam coming off of him, he clenched his fist ready to throw 'em- easy prey prey prey- he quickly unclenched them.
"You can sense my spiritual energy, correct?"
"Uh..not really?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow.
"Ugh…okay, so we'll need to start from the beginning, Ichigo remember that technique I taught you last night?" Uryu asked, rubbing his forehead.
"Uh…yeah, the circle one, do I gotta do that again?"
"Sort of, it's the basis for many simple techniques, I assume you can attest to that?" Uryu turned towards Rukia who simply nodded.
"Instead of you jumping into the dark hole, can you imagine your arm reaching in with the thought of me or Rukia?"
"Uhh, I can definitely though I am confused about how this relates to anything," Ichigo said, rubbing the back of his head and then closing his eyes.
…
…
…
"Huh?" Ichigo muttered as the darkness that surrounded him was gone and in its place were thousands and thousands of white ribbons which seemed to reach to the very heavens as soon as his focus dissipated the ribbons started to disappear
'Shit need to get back to focusing!' he thought as he returned, now set on thinking of Uryu...
Suddenly the plethora of white ribbons were pushed away and a single light blue* one was the only one left.
'Is this what Uryu was mentioning before? That's his spiritual energy? If I try this with Rukia…'
Switching over the same thing happened he lost the blue ribbon…but oddly it felt as if he had a tether to it…sorta like it had its own taste-er smell which he could easily find.
Now stood only a bright red ribbon… 'so this is Rukia's? I guess Shinigami's have red ribbons and Quincy's have blue, Plus's have pure white…do Hollow's have a special color…I wonder what my ribbon looks like?'
Opening his eyes Ichigo had to blink at the sudden difference in light levels.
"It seems like it worked, have you seen our spirit ribbons? This is a rather simplistic method of finding spiritual energies, but if you train hard enough you can do without having to visualize the ribbons or going into that trance," Uryu explained as he reached out his hand where suddenly a worn white ribbon tied to a black ribbon appeared in his grasp.
"The white ribbon is the parakeet's soul, and this black one which is tied to it is a hollow's," Uryu explained before letting go, making the ribbon dissipate.
"So a hollow is linked to its very soul? Seeing the wounds on that giant- Chad you said, I have a feeling that that parakeet is just bait," Rukia said putting her hand under her chin in thought.
"So…should we just watch and wait to see what happens?" Ichigo suggested glancing back toward the parakeet.
"The biggest issue is the hollow is sitting around, and might not come to the human world for a while," Rukia added.
"So following Chad is out of the picture since it might sense us and decide not to attack?" Ichigo asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"Not entirely, if it thinks we're weaker than it, it'll probably attack us quicker- actually…hmm" Uryu put his hand over his mouth as he thought.
"What's up? Shouldn't we just split up or something?" Ichigo asked, looking at Ishida with a raised eyebrow.
"You're the perfect bait.." Uryu said with a thin smile.
"Huh!? What the hell do you mean by that!?" Ichigo yelled, taking a few steps back.
"If the hollow believes that another hollow is encroaching on its territory it will retaliate like a wolf," Rukia supplied the answer with a wide smile.
"Don't compare me to a damn animal! Is this really the best way to go about this!? I don't feel comfortable being bait!" Ichigo yelled, shaking his head so rapidly that it looked like it might fall off.
'I also worry if I tap into that side too much what will happen…'
"Tch, it's not that bad you can take down a simple hollow, or are you worried you gonna become a damsel in distress?" Rukia asked, leaning in with a smug smile on her face.
"She's not wrong, you should be able to take it down," Uryu said with a soft nod of his head.
"You guys are really going to force me into this aren't you?" Ichigo said in a softer tone, he knew that he couldn't do those two without giving away his reservations about the idea.
"As the only other Quincy alive I won't allow you to die…ah actually mentioning that…" Uryu stated though it turned into a mutter as he started to walk away.
"Heh…I got a little sneak peek earlier, hope you enjoy your dress-up party Ichi-chan" Rukia let out a little giggle before walking away to join back with the boys.
"Huh? What the hell do you mean by that? Don't just walk off!" Ichigo yelled out about to run after her, only for his shoulder to be grabbed.
"Now, Now, Ichigo, I do believe we had an agreement, I have an assignment due soon…" Uryu said with a thin smile as his glasses perfectly reflected off his glasses making the boy seem more like a demon that came to take his soul.
"I need to attend my class after lunch I can't-" Ichigo tried to take Uryu's hand off his shoulder only for him to move under his collar.
"Don't worry you'll be excused when I explain the situation, now my muse, it's time"
"...It's perfection…I only wished your personality matched.." Uryu said a few sweat drops darting on his forehead.
"Can't…breathe.." Ichigo muttered.
Starting from top to bottom, Ichigo's new ensemble was…interesting.
Tying Ichigo's long hair back was a large dark fuchsia-colored bow, going not much further his neck was tightly held back by a radiant blue choker with a tiny metal cross in the center.
The rest was covered by a dark purple poofy, layered dress reaching down to his ankles, Uryu claimed it to be a lolita inspired outfit, but in Ichigo's opinion, it was hell on earth he'd take the sorta embarrassing Quincy outfit over this any day.
"If you were a true lady, I think you'd rather enjoy this…so sad that my muse can't see the beauty of this outfit- I usually try and go for bright colors- my disdain for shinigami runs into my own choices for colors," Uryu calmly explained but Ichigo continued to ignore him, trying desperately re-learn how to breathe with both the choker and the built-in corset-like design of the dress.
"It looks good Uryu, and I would have never thought to see Ichigo like this, I imagine her as this sorta tomboy-punk look or something, but she looks so cute like this hehe," Michiru giggled as she worked on her own outfit next to Ichigo and Uryu.
"Ah, someone understands at last, while I agree those fashions would certainly fit hi-her personality, I think this much better fits her appearance, forget her personality and just focus on her looks…can't imagine her walking down some European castle hallway about to go to a dance?"
"Oh! I can definitely see it now! Especially with that innocent-looking face of hers, it's so sad that she always has that angry face," Michiru pouted
Ichigo's face lit up with an intense red
"Going…to…kill…you"
"Hey, mister," The little parakeet in the cage started as Chad started to leave the building.
"Hm?"
"...You…should…" The parakeet looked towards the floor of his cage before speaking again.
"It's dangerous to be around me mister," The little birdie yelled out not taking a single breath between.
"What…do you mean? Chad asked as he continued to walk to his apartment.
"...You should just leave me…I am not safe to be around…"
"...No…I can…handle it," He said, giving it a small smile.
"No! Really! Just-" Suddenly the bird stopped talking and started to shake.
"She's back!" The bird yelled, flapping its wings frantically.
Chad looked up from the bird…and saw nothing…
"Mister! Just please drop me and run. She's going to eat both of us!" The bird continued to cry, now hitting his cage.
"...Where?…"
"Away! Anywhere but here go!"
"No…where is…she?" Chad asked looking all around him before tracking where the bird's gaze went.
"You can't! You'll be killed! I saw him kill them all!"
Chad said nothing as he lightly put down the cage on a nearby wall, and started to walk away.
"No! Don't go that way!"
'I can't see it…but… my instincts…' Chad thought before hurtling his fist in seemingly empty air only for it to stop at the apex of its arc.
'I…felt something…something is definitely here,' Chad thought as he continued to punch around the same area but none of them had the resistance as earlier.
Chad stopped and took a deep breath then looked around the alleyway he was in.
"You're lying! I can feel it! Everything is screaming for me to run! No way you're actually mister's friend!" The bird suddenly yelled out.
"Wait, you can see it?" Chad asked, turning around to look at the bird who just nodded his head.
"Then will you be my eyes?"
"No! You just need to run away! He'll be here soon-"
"Lookie what we got here," A deep voice that Chad couldn't hear broke out.
"We got a dumb little human so desperately trying to protect his newfound pet from a brain-dead whore who can't tell she stepped into someone else's territory!"
Ichigo gritted his teeth, he knew Chad had a strong right hook but he never experienced it, and quite frankly he never wants to again, but that wasn't the reason Ichigo was gritting his teeth, no for some reason being insulted like that by such basic beast really pissed him off.
"Heh, you know besides being brain-dead you don't got a bad bod, how about if you surrender now I promise I won't be too rough with our future playtime," The hollow laughed flinging his tongue every which way.
"Just keep digging your grave deeper," Ichigo said with a grin as he cracked his knuckles.
"Tch, how cocky I killed more hollows and shinigami than you probably could count- though that's not really saying much," The hollow once again laughed this time though he rushed in close and attempted to slash at Ichigo which he barely dodged.
Summoning his bow he fired off an arrow of medium size at least compared to his other arrows, the hollow raised his arm to defend his mask, a loud sizzling sound as the two forces batted against each other until the arrow fizzled which left a decent sized cut into the hollow's arm, though of course this was a single arrow before the first arrow even hit the hollow Ichigo quickly fired a few more each getting bigger losing focus but each arrow provided an opening for another arrow.
After the short barrage, the hollow had multiple cuts all over his arm.
"Tch, nice peashooter whore, let me show you real-" before the hollow could continue a tanned arm flew right into his face making the large hollow hit the pavement with a satisfying smack.
"Did I hit her?" Chad asked before once more hitting the air, using this opening Ichigo fired another volley at the downed hollow covering it with even more deep cuts which bleed profusely.
"Damned cocky bastards!" He yelled, opening his wings and flying towards the sky.
"Now! Here is some real firepower little girl!" The hollow's brown fur coat shook. He then reached in and grabbed something and threw it down on the ground splattering green juices everywhere..and weird pink things.
Opening his mouth the hollow's weird tongue came out and started to shake creating a weird high-pitched noise.
"What the-" Before Ichigo could continue the little pink things at his hoofs exploded.
"FUCK!" Ichigo yelled burn marks littered the fur around his hoofs.
"That was just a small taste! Now die!" The hollow yelled from above as hundreds of those bomb carriers dropped down on top of him.
"Shit!" Ichigo muttered as he quickly tried to shoot them out of the air only to find it pointless as no matter what some got through, and the ones that he shoot down still had the pink bombs land on the ground.
'I just need to shoot him down and it's over…' He thought while shooting down the ones blocking his view and then firing at the flying beast but the hollow already saw what he was planning and dodged.
'I need something that will either shock him or something fast- but how the hell can I do that while all of these are dropping on me!?' Ichigo thought as blood leaked all around him, his fur, and skin was burned and dyed red with his blood.
Ichigo then tried focusing, making his arrow smaller and smaller than firing into the storm of explosions, then he fired.
It cleanly went through many of the little toad things and was on track to hit him, but once again he dodged.
'Focus….in…ha…nd' This voice- it was different than the one that has been appearing in his dreams..it was softer..even oddly kinder sounding
"Okay…let's try this…" He whispered instead of trying to focus on his arrow, he focused slowly on his hand.
"Hmm? Giving up! Yes! Now beg for me! Beg that I won't kill you!" The hollow yelled but Ichigo paid no attention just gathering his spiritual energy into his hand- he could feel an explosion rocking his body- the growing pain but he just kept pumping.
Then suddenly there was a weight in his hand- Ichigo tightened his grip on this item- is this what the voice meant? Should I continue? These ideas flooded his mind until finally, he opened his eyes.
Blood was seeping down his face making it nearly incredibly difficult to look as blood covered his eyes.
Glancing down Ichigo found out what the weight was.
"A lance? Or maybe a javelin?" Ichigo muttered as he twirled it around, unlike his bow and arrow which seemed to be made purely out of his spiritual energy, this seemed to be a real object made out of steel or some other metal, it was hefty pulling his arm down as he held it.
'…if it is a javelin… I should throw it..it definitely would be a surprise…' Ichigo thought as lifted it up over his shoulder briefly questioning why it felt familiar before chucking it.
It spun through the air going straight through the many toad spawnlings until it reached its target.
"What the hell! Where did this come from!?" He yelled before trying to dodge it but the lance was too fast and cut right through his right wing spreading blood everywhere as he crashed into a nearby alleyway.
