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Chapter 25: Duty
Byakuya's POV
"Sokatsui"
I fire the blast from my fingertips, shooting it towards the large Espada that was planning to crush Kurosaki under his foot. The blast hits him dead on, and just as the smoke began to form, I notice that brute Kenpachi coming in from below. He swipes his blade against the enemy's leg, cutting the appendage right off from its body.
"Byakuya? Kenpachi?" the substitute soul reaper had a look of shock on his face as we approached him, as if this was the first time he was seeing us.
"Well now! Long time, no see huh Ichigo?" says the brute as he raises his sword so that it rested right over his shoulder. "I see you've been having quite the time with the big Espada over here."
"Well, you can say that," he mumbles for an answer as he gets back up on his two feet. "And I see you two have also had your run-ins with the enemy as well."
"Hmm, piece of cake . . ." says Kenpachi with a shrug, but then he turns to me. "I can't say the same for Princess here. Judging from his disheveled appearance, I'm guessing that Byakuya came close to losing his fight."
"Is that so?" I ask as I turn to him, keeping the stoic look on my face as stoic as possible. "And what about you? Judging from the way you look, it looks like you were in a predicament that was worse than mine."
'Well don't you have a way with words . . ." mumbles the brute as he points his blade at me. "If you want to fight me, then just say it to my face! I got plenty of time."
"Actually, you don't." I tell him as I nod my head to what was behind him. He turns to see the large Espada starting to come too, an enraged glare directed at all three of us as he finally got into an able fighting position.
"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" exclaims the Espada, yelling up a storm that could be heard from miles away.
"Is that so?" asks Kenpachi as that sadistic smirk of his begins to show. "Well then . . . LET'S JUST SEE ABOUT THAT SHALL WE?"
As Kenpachi leaps in to fight the enemy, I notice out the corner of my eye Ichigo already preparing his weapon for battle, but I stop him before he takes a step forward with just a wave of my hand.
"You are no longer needed here," I tell him bluntly as I let out a small breath. "You are needed in the Human World."
"That may be the case, but there's a bit of an issue with that assessment," mutters the substitute as he raised an eyebrow. "How do you suggest I get back? There aren't any portals to be found around here right now."
"Leave that to me!"
We both turn to see Kurotsuchi and Ashisoji Jizo walking before a very large cart driven by his lieutenant, which actually gets me curious for once.
"What are you doing with that large cart Kurotsuchi?" I ask as I raise my eyebrow slightly. "If I remember correctly, you didn't arrive here in Hueco Mundo with it."
"Hmm, just some samples and old experiments that I found lying around," says the mad scientist as he opens up a Garganta. "It's no big deal."
"Wait, you can't be serious!" protests Ichigo as he points to the battle that was going on meters away from us. "You want me to leave you guys with him?"
"Ichigo, your actual duty as a soul reaper is to protect Karakura Town," I counter as I turn to the orange-haired substitute. "Don't you want to stop Aizen from potentially destroying your home before it's too late?"
He looks at me in realization before the light in his eyes dim a little. He turns to the open Garganta and jumps into the opening before it can close, Unohana following close at his heels. It made sense. Unohana's expertise would be needed much more in the Human World than here in Hueco Mundo.
"Kurotsuchi, why didn't you go with him?" I suddenly ask as I turned to the scientist, instantly getting his attention. "There could be many things in the Human World that could have piqued your interest, but you chose to stay here."
"Well, I'm not planning anything if that's what you're thinking," he tells me swiftly as he turns to his cart. "There are more interesting corpses here in this dimension than in the Human World. I can always study that dimension later, but for now, Hueco Mundo is the official center of my focus at the moment."
"That man is very creepy." I hear Senbonzakura whisper to me as we watch the mad scientist do his work. . . . I couldn't agree with my zanpakuto more. Although, from the sound of his voice, it seems that even the mad scientist, who puts so much of his trust in science, believes that Ichigo Kurosaki can end the war.
Minata's POV
"Go Ken-chan! You can do it!"
"Wow . . . Lieutenant Kusajishi really loves to cheer on her captain doesn't she?" asks Mizukiri as we continue to watch the ongoing battle from our positions, a good mile away.
"You can't blame her Mizukiri. She is his lieutenant after all." I counter with a small shrug as I keep my eyes focused on the battle. "And whatever makes Zaraki happy, makes her happy, especially when it involves fighting."
"Yeah, like Mina-chan said," says Yachiru as she momentarily turns to us. "I'm his lieutenant, so I have a right to cheer on my captain."
"If you say so Yachiru," says Mizukiri as she lets out a breath. "That Espada definitely looks a lot different from what we read from the initial reports."
"It appears that the more angry he gets, the stronger he becomes." I say with an inquisitive look on my face.
"If that's the case then Captain Kuchiki and Captain Zaraki shouldn't be making the big guy angry." mutters my zanpakuto as she shakes her head.
"You do know you are talking about Byakuya and Kenpachi right?" I ask her with an eyebrow raised.
"Oh, you got me there." mutters Mizukiri as she lets out a defeated breath as I turn back to the battle. "
"Hopefully those two don't get under each other's skin too much. If they do, then they will have one difficult battle to overcome."
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