Ichigo stared at Rukia with a puzzled look on his eyes throughout the class, as the last time Rukia came was against the Bounts where she wasn't there for school since she hadn't been stationed. Meaning that the only reason she came here with the others, and enrolling again, would just mean that she would be here to stay and the situation was serious.
Despite trying to hide it Miss Sawaguchi *1 had caught him not paying attention to her class and was quickly bothered by it. "Mr. Kurosaki, I would much appreciate it if you kept your focus on class." She sternly stated as she called class back into place.
Feeling embarrassed from being called out in class again just at the start of the month, Ichigo felt like he really was letting all of this get to him. So he just sighed and attempted to do as told, the class wasn't exactly boring, he just couldn't properly think it through with everything on his mind. Even his Hollow was attempting to help him on it, while he wanted some action he still understood that he needed to study.
'But honestly last night...That woman...' The thought rang into his skull, that tall blonde woman, she was so strong that it felt like she could kill him with no problem, and yet… she was by far the least… beast-like perhaps? No, the instinct was there, but she didn't seem to follow it much. So why did he care?
"Cause ya need that Instinct to live, dumbass...And that woman is doing the same mistake you're doing, you two will probably meet again and I hope you actually do something with her." His Hollow spoke from his head once again, bothering him perhaps. "Also the answer is wrong and you know it, pay attention!"
Even though Ichigo wasn't focused, he could still see clearly thanks to the peripheral vision, meaning the Hollow shared his eyesight as well. It was concerning since he was practically allowing the Hollow within him to somewhat control his body. This seemed to be possible thanks to the Hollow powers in his Human form, and according to Shinji his Hollow could do this as well. And yet, it didn't feel as dangerous as the other times. It may be because he wasn't engaged in a battle, but it still concerned Ichigo that the Hollow was capable of doing this.
It didn't help that Shinji was looking at him weirdly, same with Rukia. However, once the last class ended, Rukia dragged him out of the room in search of a Hollow hunt, barely having the time to gather up his own things in doing so.
Ichigo hopped from one house onto another before leaping again to the air, with Rukia holding herself on his back for a piggyback ride, which is why he held Zangetsu freely in his hand so that the cloth wrapping around his arm wouldn't escape his grasp. "So, Rukia, what's all this about and where are we going?" The Orange haired youth asked as the raven haired reaper looked at her old fashioned phone with a frown. As usual her Soul Pager was awful, and with a sigh Ichigo changed his trajectory and went to another route, moving towards the Southern district. "Found the Hollow already. Yeah, I can see why Uryu thinks this thing is awful."
Rukia nodded in agreement and crushed the phone in her hand, the shards falling to the street below as they made their way to a nearby block. "I know, thankfully I managed to rack up enough money so I can make Kisuke get me something that actually works." she said.
They landed down on the ground where they could spot a large Hollow digging a hole through the dirt. As if feeling their presence, the Hollow immediately stopped and snapped his head back to see the two Soul Reapers standing many meters away from him.
Rukia took a few steps away as she laid back against the wall. "Are you taking care of this?" She asked in a casual tone as Ichigo just shrugged. The cloth in his blade began to unwrap itself.
There was over 20 meters between Ichigo and the Hollow, and all the Hollow had to do was make his way over and simply kill Ichigo with a punch, splattering his entire body to smithereens and painting the walls of the building red with blood.
This was if Ichigo was in a Human state… As he casually covered 21 meters before the Hollow could so much as blink, appearing only 2 feet behind the massive Hollow with his back turned and holding Zangetsu out, as putrid blood stained the silver edge of the blade from its tip to a third of the blade.
Blood bursted like a geyser from the giant's neck as it fell on its side, and a few gallons of blood covered the floor before the Hollow dissipated into spirit particles as it was cleansed by the Zanpakuto of the Substitute.
"Took too long, Ichigo." The Hollow in his mind stated with a disappointed sigh. "Guess we're going back home then? Either that or tell Orihime about the school assignments?" It added.
Ichigo didn't reply to the Hollow within. Scratching his head he simply brands the sword to the side, and the thick layer of blood was thrown and smacked against the wall, tainting the colors in blood. Turning back to face Rukia, the teen proceeded to walk towards her. "Hey, Rukia, I think this might be one of the last Hollows, Guess we can just go—!" Stopping himself mid sentence, the Orange haired teen quickly filled his sword with blue Spiritual Pressure before he turned around to meet a long incoming sword slash from an enemy, to which he blocked with his own sword strike.
Sparks from metal and blue sparks of energy fly as the edges are put in blade lock. Upon realizing, Ichigo's eyes widened to see Shinji again, but this time he did not have a smile on his face, as instead there was a frown. "I thought this would have been easier but it seems I'll have to drag you by force. You're unstable and a danger." Shinji stated as he slowly increased the pressure on his sword. He did not expect the kid's strength to be like this, what in the world was going on. "You better stand down before—!" Before he could continue, he immediately saw the blue hue from the blade glow brighter as the Spiritual Pressure burst forth, unable to be contained no longer, enveloping the two in a small explosion that launched Ichigo backwards and only made Shinji slide back a bit, burning up the sleeve of the school uniform and the tie. ''Well shit, now look at what you did. Now I have to fix the outfit on this damn thing."
The teen rolled on the ground for a few feet before ending on his back with a groan leaving his throat. His kosode tore up on the left sleeve and his collar was roughed up a bit with singe marks all over the Shihakusho. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as air exhaled through breath. The attack hit him harder, unlike with Shinji who received no noticeable wound.
From the sidelines, Rukia gasped and immediately thought of rushing in to help but steadied herself before it. The person in front of her was barely wounded by a Getsuga Tenshou from point blank range while her friend was on the ground. Looking at the blonde asshole she knew she needed answers, who even had such a weird style?
"Who are you, and why are you attacking Ichigo?! What do you want with him?!" She demanded to know as she unsheathed her Zanpakuto.
With a bored look Shinji simply waved her off. "It shouldn't concern a Soul Reaper like you. I came here to talk to this kid, so you can get going." He told her in a dismissing manner before looking back to a downed Ichigo. "Now then—"
"Shut the fuck up..." Using his sword as a support, Ichigo picked himself up from the ground before readying his blade, giving Shinji a glare. "Don't think I'll allow you to just dismiss her like she's nothing!"
Shinji only looked particularly unfazed. "So what do you plan on doing? Do you really wanna keep fighting?"
Ichigo only scoffed at this. "Says the asshole who started this in the first place!" He held his arm to balance the sword, putting it in front. "Bankai!" Energy burst from the blade which enveloped Ichigo in a whirlwind of Spirit Energy. The force behind the current of the transformation was intense, as black and red ripples of Spirit Energy ripped the ground, grinding stone to dust, wind tore through debris and parts of the nearby buildings carrying it with its force.
Soon enough a tornado started from the ground before it made its way to the sky, something that could easily be seen from the other side of the town. With the sheer amount, it made Shinji brace himself while Rukia needed to hold herself to the light post, but even said light post began to crack.
On the other side of the town coming out of a store, Rangiku just finished shopping for some clothes stops before she turned to see a massive tornado from afar, people nearby also took note of it, however from their perspective there was only feeling powerful gusts of wind blowing by. Which meant that whatever caused it was strong enough to affect the Living World in a manner that was very noticeable.
"The hell?! What's with this wind?!" Was a guy's comment, who was next to Rangiku as he covered his arm over his face.
'That is bad, I need to go meet up with Captain Hitsugaya and the others to see what this — wait — is that Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure?!' She thought to herself before making her way to the park where Toshiro, Renji and the others were at.
Shinji simply covered his face with his arm to protect himself from dirt. "Well that's something. To be able to pull a Bankai so easily after using it only within 1 month of acquiring it… Definitely impressive for someone of your age." the Vizard commented as the black katana cut through the tornado, dissipating it in an extensive shockwave.
Rukia, who was shook from the experience, looked up to see for the first time what it looked like when Ichigo went to Bankai. Sure, she had seen it back in Soukyoku Hill when Aizen took the Hougyoku from her, and when she saw him in his final battle against Kariya, but this was the first time she had seen its activation up close. So the tornado that she and Renji saw on top of Soukyoku Hill when he fought her brother… Was this?
In general that show of power revealed Ichigo wearing a different garb. The Shihakushou was replaced with a ankle length long sleeve coat with a low cut, bandages were visible covering his stomach, the oversized cleaver became a long black Daito with a small chain dangling at the end of the handle. Some would say it wouldn't make sense for a Bankai to be something so simple, and so small, but her brother told her the same thing. From what she heard… Ichigo's Bankai, while not flashy, or elemental, or an ability that could take away someone's senses, was still an incredibly formidable Bankai as it had the capability of increasing his physical stats to an insane degree that even her brother Byakuya most certainly had trouble with. Even the leader of the Bounts had an incredibly hard time with it.
"And how would you know about my Bankai?" Ichigo asked as he pointed his sword to Shinji.
Shinji grinned from the response, as he was completely amused by it. "Boy you're dense, if I knew about the condition of your Inner Hollow, wouldn't I have bothered to know what you have learned in order to know what I should look out for?" The blonde countered.
'What?' Rukia became confused as to what the strange individual was saying. 'From the way he's talking it's as if he's been spying on Ichigo. But how can that be? Surely we would have noticed something off, wouldn't we?'
"Yeah, that is true. But either way, let's see what you — what the?!" Before he could move, Ichigo felt the approach of other 3 known powers, those being Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika. There were 2 other Spiritual Pressures he felt but they weren't as familiar, but with one of them he was pretty sure was the beautiful orange haired woman that helped Chad, but the other was completely unknown, perhaps it was the little kid accompanying the group. "Guess we're settling this some other time then?" Ichigo turned back to Shinji, who was sheathing his sword.
"Are you joining or not?" Was all Shinji asked, and Ichigo noticed a tone of annoyance in it.
Sighing, Ichigo knew this could end up becoming complicated if the others came in. And letting them know about his Inner Hollow was the last thing he wanted to let anyone know. "I'll go see what it is that makes this so important, but if it's a waste of my time then I'm out." The redhead stated with a huff, lowering hia sword in doing so.
The blonde Vizard simply smiled and waved goodbye as he left with a Flash Steal, leaving the raven haired Soul Reaper and the orange haired Substitute with little to no bother.
The raven haired reaper looked at the Substitute with a questioning gaze. "Ichigo, can you tell what is even going on? Do you know who that was?"
Sighing, the Substitute just walked towards the smaller girl before offering a hand to help her. There was no way he could lie his way out of this one. "Alright, but I guess it will take a while to explain everything." He answered just as she took his hand.
Ichigo had no idea what was going on anymore. Before this he was just doing class and then went on a hunt with Rukia, and all of a sudden he was forced to confront Shinji, who then left shortly afterwards. Next thing he knew, he was being dragged by Rukia as they were going back to their school, or his school really. "Orihime!" Rukia shouted out, running towards the corridor where Orihime sat on a bench by herself. She still had a bandaged stomach from the shot she took, and obviously she wasn't wearing the school uniform as ever since she got shot, she hadn't been allowed to go to classes, but she still had to study, and her papers would be brought by either Tatsuki or Ichigo himself.
Orihime turned around, surprised to see Rukia dragging a victim behind her, who turned out to be a very reluctant looking Ichigo. "Hi! It's been a while...or maybe not." Rukia made a huge grin.
"It looks like your injuries are healed." Orihime commented, noticing that the other girl managed to make a full physical recovery from their fights with the Bounts.
"They have, thanks to you I'm fine now." Rukia replied, showing a smile of gratitude.
"Ah it was no big deal, it was nothing. How long are you going to be staying with us this time?" asked Orihime.
"I'll tell you all about that later… but first..." Ichigo then got out of her grip as he looked at her in annoyance.
Orihime looked at Ichigo. ''Are you alright?"
"Of course not, I was forced to go with her because she thought that I—" Rukia elbowed Ichigo in the gut, making him go onto his knees as he held his gut in pain.
"Uhhhh..." Orihime smiled awkwardly.
"I may have, sort of, kinda thought that Ichigo was depressed. I thought he lost to the Arrancars, but I was… wrong. It turns out it was a misunderstanding." Rukia blushed with embarrassment shown on her.
Ichigo got up. "And even though it was… I promise you, Orihime, I will get stronger. I promise that next time they won't hurt Chad, they won't hurt you, nor anybody else." he said, letting his determination set in.
Orihime was surprised when she saw a familiar look of resolve in his eyes, but nevertheless she didn't mind seeing it, as it brought back that feeling of protection. "Thank you, Ichigo. And thank you, Rukia, and welcome back."
This brought out a soft smile from Rukia.
In Ichigo's room, Kon was seen sitting on the floor, staring at it with a blank look on his face. That became interrupted when he heard the door open up, and saw Rukia. This made the Mod Soul burst into tears of joy as he lunged at Rukia, or more so her chest. "RUKIAAAA, DEEEEEEEEAR." Kon got stomped on the floor by Rukia's foot, planted firmly on his head. "There's only one person who would stop me with no hesitation after not seeing each other for the whole summer! It has to be Rukiaaaa! I'm so happy I could cryyyy!"
Ichigo got into his room before closing the door. "Rukia, quit fooling around with him and just get in already."
"Same old tiny bedroom of yours I see." Rukia remarked teasingly.
"Why do you have to point out how small it is? It's not fair comparing it to Byakuya's big old house." Ichigo complained, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"You're right! it just slipped out." Rukia shrugged before sitting on Ichigo's bed.
"Hey, don't sit on my bed!" Ichigo exclaimed in irritation.
"You sure are grumpy today."
"I don't care what you think, you can sit on the floor!"
"My, I can't believe how stingy you are." Rukia changed the tone of her voice to more higher pitched, as if to mock Ichigo.
Outside Ichigo's room, Yuzu and Isshin were hearing their conversation with glass pressing against the door. Karin came upstairs and caught onto their antics. "I wonder why no one was downstairs, are you two eavesdropping?" The raven haired girl crosses her arms.
"Shhhhh, it's an emergency! Ichigo brought a girl home from school with him!" Yuzu exclaimed with a worried look on her face.
"He's brought other girls before. Two for that matter and it was no big deal… Tatsuki for one" Karin pointed out.
"But this one is not Tatsuki! This girl is…" Yuzu draws her arms in the middle of her chest. "More of a flat type figure."
"Ok, so? Since Tatsuki has gotten older, her body is sexier now too." Karin replied.
"Wait really?!" Isshin got up immediately, as if actually shocked from this.
It was then that Karin kicked his face. "Shut up and stop slobbering you old fart! Besides, it would take someone as hot as Orihime to surprise me!" she made her last point before she started leaving.
"You're right! Ichigo could never be that popular!" Isshin exclaimed with a childish cheer.
Having heard the commotion, Ichigo mumbles as he angrily opens the door. "What the hell?! Do you ever shut up?!"
"I told you he was gonna be mad!" Yuzu whined.
"We're sorry, Ichigo!" Isshin got to his knees, making an obnoxious whine.
Ichigo slammed the door shut. "I can't believe how nosy my sisters are, and my father is even worse!" he exclaimed irritatingly.
"Hehe, well your family has always been good for laughs at least." Rukia commented with an amused grin.
"Oh shut up! Just tell me what you guys know about the Arrancars. You know what they are and what they want?" Rukia nodded her head. "So then, could you tell me?" he sat down on his chair, leaning back as he did so. Although he technically already knew the answer and had proof on the flash drive given to him by the beautiful blonde, he still wanted to know if his friends were at least updated on the situation as well, and hoping if the information he had wasn't anything misleading, as he hadn't checked it yet.
He then heard Renji's voice but he couldn't see him. "Just a second!"
Ichigo perked his head up. "Hey wait, Renji? Where are you?!"
"If you wanna know about the Arrancars, just hang on! We'll tell you all about it!"
Ichigo looked up above, staring in disbelief as his ceiling light was ripped in half, and landing to the ground were Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Rangiku. Everyone except Ikkaku, who was still hanging on, dropped to the ground, breaking the ceiling light in two. "Hey, Ichigo, it's been a while… or maybe not" greeted Renji.
"You jerks! What the hell?! Did you forget how to use a damn door?!" Ichigo clenched his fist yelling at them.
"Hahaha! if you need a new lightbulb, here you go!" Rangiku pointed to Ikkaku's head.
"That was stupid." Rangiku only slapped Ikkaku, making him fall on the floor.
"Now that's no way to greet old friends. I'm hoping we're gonna have some fun here." Rangiku remarked with an excited grin.
While she was talking, Kon, who was still lying on the floor, stared at Rangiku's massive bust that was sealed in the school uniform, which was when he leaped once more trying to claim them. "Your buttons are too tight, let me adjust them for you pleeeeease!" just as he said that, the Mod Soul got punched by Rangiku making him go unconscious.
"Has the toy lost its mind?" Renji asked in confusion about what he just saw.
"No, he's always like that." Ichigo answered.
And so, Renji began to explain to the Substitute about everything he knew about the Arrancars. But Ichigo's thoughts were preoccupied with something else, such as where to hide his costume since he already knew about the Arrancars from the drive. Before long, Renji finished his explanation with the Arrancars, however there were Rukia's rabbit drawings of some random Arrancars.
"I would have understood better if it weren't for the crappy drawings." Ichigo blankly commented, not showing care for the shitty drawings. Before he knew it, Rukia threw her sketchbook at Ichigo which hit him straight in the face, making Ichigo glare at her.
"The Soul Society was willing to sit back and see anything developed with the Arrancars, but that was before we got to deal with 3 of our Captains having gone rogue. With the enemy's side on top of all the Bounts, the fully developed Arrancars were completed much sooner than we expected, and that they have been sent into this world. We can't afford to sit back anymore, so we selected a team to come here at once and that's us." Renji explained, pointing the thumb at himself and the others in the room.
"Who made the selections?" Ichigo asked.
"Central 46 has been vacant ever since Aizen killed all the leaders, so as of now the ultimate decision has been reverted to the Head Captain. Rukia was chosen because she's the one who knows you best." Renji remarked.
"Not true! I was chosen because of my abilities!" Rukia exclaimed in protest.
"There weren't many officers to choose from, so I was closer to Rukia the most. After that, I was told to choose outside Captain class who I trusted most to fight by my side, so that's why I asked Ikkaku to accompany me." Renji pointed his thumb from behind at Ikkaku. ''Yumichika wanted to come, and when Rangiku wanted to come she said it sounded really interesting and she wanted it too, but then Yumichika said he wouldn't go with Rangiku, and then Rangiku said she'll kill us both if we left without her, so in the end Captain Hitsugaya had to come along just to supervise the two of them… and here we are." Renji explained the entire situation of just how the group came to be.
"... Is this a mission or a party?" Ichigo blankly asked.
He then hears his window open as he sees Toshiro sitting on the edge. "In any case, we're not sure why but Aizen has his eye on you, Ichigo Kurosaki, and that's not good." the young Captain said.
Rangiku turned around to her Captain. "Hey, Captain Hitsugaya, you should have come with us! We didn't do that much damage after all!" she cheerfully exclaimed.
"Have you been on the window ledge this whole time? In plain sight? What if the neighbors reported a silver haired elementary student burglar?" Renji pointed out.
"Shut up!" Toshiro barked. "It's true enough that an Arrancar is born when the mask is removed from a Hollow, but simply taking the mask off a mid-Hollow wouldn't result in anything particularly dangerous… anyone who was serious about declaring war on the Soul Society would need something big, something strong, Menos level and above."
This immediately caught Ichigo's interest. "Hold on, are you saying that there are Hollows even stronger than the Menos?" He asked with a tilt to the head, while this was being revealed now to him it didn't feel like news, in some way it felt natural to say that.
"Yes…" Toshiro nodded. "Well to be more specific, there are 3 other beings under the name of the Menos. The first is the Gillian, the lowest class of the Menos and there are many of them. Their main characteristic is that they all look exactly the same… the Menos that you banished from this world soon after you gained the power of the Soul Reaper was of this kind. I guess you could call it a foot soldier."
"So that dumb thing was just a foot soldier?" Ichigo asked. He supposed it did make sense to not be the top of the food chain of the Hollows, considering how even he was able to push it back when he was far weaker.
"They're big, but they're slow and their intelligence is below than that of a wild animal's. It's hardly any trouble at all for a Captain to subdue and kill one of them. The problem is the next class called the Adjuchas, they're somewhat smaller than the Gillians but there are fewer of them and they are highly intelligent and much better fighters, and they control a large number of the Gillians. Finally, there are the Vasto Lordes, the highest class of the Menos. They are equal to humans in size and there are very few of them within Hueco Mundo. But I have to give it to you straight, these Vasto Lordes are believed to be even more powerful than the Captains."
Ichigo's eyes widened in worry, as Hitsugaya continued without missing a beat. "Exactly how much power the Menos have gained into Arrancar is still unknown… but now 3 of our Captains have defected to lead the Menos. There is one thing we can be sure about, if Aizen has more than 10 of those Vasto Lordes under his control… then the Soul Society is doomed."
With wide eyes and a dry throat the orange haired teen realizes just how vital it is that he should check what Aizen had given him. If what Toshiro said is actually true and the information contained in the drive matches it in any way or even shows itself to be even worse than the information given by the Soul Society, there's no telling how much trouble they would be in. But... That just made him scratch the back of his head in confusion again. Why would someone as powerful as Aizen himself take seriously what amounted to simply a joke by Ichigo? Why give information like that to begin with?
Before he could question himself more, the gurgling sounds of someone shoving their hand down someone's throat came in, and looking to the side he saw Renji trying to get the Soul Candy out of Kon's mouth, while the Mod Soul seemed to be choking. Rangiku herself was watching this as she was standing by Renji, seeming to be quite curious by her colleague's demonstration. Not only that but she was surprised that there even was a Mod Soul to begin with. Weren't all of them supposed to be destroyed? "Huh, and you think that's the best way to remove it?" she asked Renji.
After some trouble, Renji finally managed to get the soul out of Kon as the small green pill got on his hand while Kon's plushy body landed on the ground lifelessly. "Mission accomplished… here it is?" Renji had answered the busty Lieutenant, though he was slightly grossed out by the saliva on his fingertips.
"So, you guys have any idea when you're gonna leave here?" Ichigo asked from behind.
"What do you mean, Ichigo?" Renji turned around to look at the Substitute. "We're not going home. We'll have to stay here until our fight with the Arrancars is over. No-one is going to leave until then."
Ichigo became worried by this. He couldn't afford to have all these people stay in this single room, let alone his whole house where his family could see them. "Ok, let me make this perfectly clear, I don't have enough space for ANY of you to stay here."
Rangiku pouted from this. "Aw, you don't mean me as well, do you?"
"Rangiku, right?" Ichigo asked her name first before going into the question. "You're the one who helped Chad against that old man Bount, right?"
Rangiku puffed up her chest in pride, which made her boobs bounce heavily, making Ichigo blush. "Yep! We would have been in deep trouble if we didn't team up. It was a pretty risky fight but Yasutora and I pulled through with no problem!" She said with a grin. "So I'd say that thanks to my action you would let me stay here? I mean this is an opportunity to have a girl like me all by yourself." Rangiku said, with a giggle.
"And that's exactly the problem..." Ichigo deadpanned as Rangiku blinked in question. Was he… rejecting her? It didn't exactly feel like it, as she mostly meant it as a joke, but more so as it would be a problem if she stayed and not her staying. "My father is an idiot. So if he knew I let any woman stay with me, let alone one who at least looks like a college graduate… He would be yelling non stop just to embarrass both of us. Along with my sisters as well, and I don't need that happening."
Blinking her eyes, Rangiku undid a button on her shirt, which had Renji become wide eyed. Ichigo had a furious shade of red on his face from this. "Aaagh! What do you think you're doing?! You can't change my mind by undoing a button!" he exclaimed, as he covered his eyes with his hand.
She then responded by slowly lifting her skirt to which Ichigo still refused to look, though he did have a small peak. "Not even if you lift your skirt a little! Daaaamn it! I will not give into temptation easily like that!"
Rukia popped up from behind. "Really, then why are you peeking through your fingers?"
Outside of Ichigo's house, all of the Soul Reapers have gotten out of the room by jumping through the window so that all of them could stay at someplace else. "Well, from now on I'll be Orihime's guest and stay in her house instead."
"What do you mean? Did you get her permission?" Ichigo asked the Lieutenant of Squad 10.
"There isn't any rush, she's the kind of girl who doesn't know how to say no."
"The way you said that now makes me more worried."
Rangiku looked over at her Captain. "Captain, how would you like to come?"
"No way! I'm not going." Toshiro started to walk away from them all, but Rangiku followed him.
"You should come... It will be fun." Rangiku insisted.
"For you."
Ikkaku sighed as he started to leave. "We better get going as well."
"You know a place to stay in as well?" Ichigo asked.
Ikkaku only sighed at this. ''Of course I don't." he headed to the opposite direction where Toshiro and Rangiku went, and Yumichika followed him. "There's no need to worry, I'll find a place to stay on my own."
"Alright, but keep that wooden sword of yours out of sight!" Ichigo warned him.
"Well, I better get going as well. I'll be staying at Urahara's for a while." Renjj said
"You're gonna mooch off him again?" Ichigo had somewhat joked about this.
Renji scowled at this. "I wouldn't dream of it. Although..."
"Hm?"
"There is something I wanna ask him about." Renji now started to leave as well, leaving Ichigo and Rukia by themselves.
"So, have you figured out where you're gonna be staying?" Ichigo now asked Rukia. This became a wrong question to ask as Rukia started running off to Ichigo's door. ''Hold on a minute, Rukia—!"
"Don't be stupid! This is the only place that's right for me!"
"What do you mean my house is the only place for you?! You literally hoarded my closet all for yourself, I couldn't buy new clothes thanks to you!" The orange haired teen exclaimed which then made Rukia almost laugh.
"I thought boys didn't really care about shopping though!" She replied with a remarkable tone.
"It matters when the clothes are too freakin tight for my liking and my clothes are getting small so I need new ones." He stated. It was true, as with the development of his body and Yoruichi's training, Ichigo's body was getting bigger so he would need to get new clothes, heck even the pants were beginning to be too uncomfortable for what he used.
"Well then where should I be?" Rukia asked as she blinked her eyes. She made a good point but forgot one detail.
Ichigo pointed backwards with his thumb motioning towards the clinic. "We have rooms for at least over 10 people in the clinic, it doesn't get a lot of people often."
Rukia blinked once, then twice as realization dawned upon her. "Oh… yeah right, I sometimes forget your family owns a clinic." Nodding her head, Rukia then reminded herself of something. "Oh right, I haven't seen Chad today, where is he?"
"He's been in his house all day as far as I know." Ichigo answered, putting his hands on his pockets as Rukia then proceeded to head in the direction of Chad's house.
Yumichika and Ikkaku were seen sitting on a rooftop in the middle of the night. The two members from Squad 11 have been trying to find some place to stay, but so far they had no luck at all. Yumichika sniffed the air. "Ah, I smell a Hollow, do you think we should kill it?"
His companion only shrugged from this, not at all appalled by that interest. "Just leave it. Besides, that Kuromodami or whoever is in charge here."
"Hmmm I suppose so… " Yumichika said. 'But this Hollow scent...is strange.' he thought to himself.
Chad was lying down on his futon, looking at the view of the sun while his arm was still being healed by Orihime's fairies. There was a really loud buzzing noise that was going on outside, which sounded like construction was being worked on. Though the noise didn't bother him much.
He did at least have some companion with him as Rukia was with him, as she more so crouched next to him. "So, when is that arm of yours gonna be healed?" she asked the gentle giant.
Chad silently hummed to himself. "I'm... not exactly sure. It might not be done until my arm is fully healed."
"I heard that your arm got badly injured when you encountered those Arrancars the other day."
Chad nodded his head in confirmation. "It is true, as unfortunate as that is for me to admit. I thought I could at least slow them down until I gained backup from the others. But I barely did anything at all till Orihime and Ichigo arrived."
"Was it really that bad?"
Chad nodded his head. "It was." he looked over at his injured arm. "I'll have to do better than that. I have to make sure that I become stronger now."
Rukia had a small smile on her from that. "Well, I wish you luck on that."
Ichigo finally entered his room with a sigh of relief escaping through his mouth, now being free from his father's wrath after he said that Rukia would be going to use one of the clinic's bedrooms for the time being. He opened up his drawer as he took out the flash drive that the blonde woman gave him, after what he learned today he needed to know more than ever. Even if what Aizen gave him of information could possibly be fabricated or anything like that, it was still something to consider.
After all, if he didn't want to reveal anything… Why send anything at all? Especially by an even more powerful opponent? Her level of power told him she may easily be this Vasto Lorde, which was something his… instincts told him. As of late, his intuition had been more active than his reason if anything. It was unnerving, having been told multiple times that rushing in and relying solely on Instinct would get him killed. But at the same time Yoruichi also told him that Instinct was a natural thing that allowed others to evolve.
Yet teachers would say that Instinct is something only animals relied on...
Speaking of which, looking over to the side, Ichigo stared at the cage the spider resided in. It's been a few days by now and so far the thing was still alive, so it was better if he gave it back for his grade to not go into failure due to him not delivering because of a potential upcoming war.
Sitting down on his bed and opening up his laptop, he inserted the drive in. "Let's see what this is about..." He mumbled as he opened the archive. Guess Aizen made the flash drive very easy for the laptop to access something like this. Otherwise there was no way the drive would even be compatible to begin with.
Grimmjow was calmly sitting on a building with his eyes closed before opening them as he saw a Garganta open in front of him, seeing his Fracciones group. All of them had managed to enter the World of The Living, just so that the Espada like himself could show Ulquiorra how it's done to do a mission. One way or another, he would get what he wanted.
"Did anyone see you?" Grimmjow asked, wanting to make sure that absolutely no-one saw them sneaking out to do a mission without Aizen's permission.
"Of course not." Shaolong firmly answered. "Although..."
"What?" Grimmjow looked at him with annoyance.
"On the journey to meet with you, I have detected Spiritual Pressures that were many and strong, confirmatory to Ulquiorra's report."
Grimmjow scoffed at this. "Use your Pesquisas."
All of them closed their eyes as they felt bings as they were sensing about 14 Spiritual Pressures and they opened their eyes. Grimmjow was not pleased by how many there were. "Just as I thought. The Soul Society sent reinforcements that's grown complex thanks to you." he spouted in spite aimed at Ulquiorra. "If you would have done your job right, this wouldn't have happened all thanks to you. You're soft." he looked at his companions. "Di Roy, Shawlong, Ederon, Yylfordt, Nakeen, there's no need to hold back if they have even a glimmer of Spiritual Pressure... I want them dead!" he exclaimed. "So let's begin! We will not rest until everyone is caught! You will show them no mercy, if they show even a glimmer of Spiritual Pressure, kill them! Don't let a single one get away!"
Everyone except Grimmjow went in different directions, following Grimmjow's orders.
*1 - This is the name of an actress for Biollante Buildings in Godzilla vs Biollante. And yes it was a different teacher, not the one we usually see in the series, since it's a bit odd we don't get any other teachers being shown at all as far as I remember.
But yeah, that's pretty much the end of this chapter.