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"Rukia" – Normal Speech

'Ichigo' – Thoughts

*Kaien-dono* - Zanpakutō speech/thoughts

"Bankai!" – Spiritual Technique

Chapter 23: The Start of the Bount Conflict

Half an Hour Earlier

Streets of Karakura Town, Karakura Honchō

"So why is it that Uryū doesn't have to deal with a Mod Soul escort again?" Ichigo was apparently still somewhat ambivalent about having the Mod Souls working with them as they patrolled around Karakura Town.

Then again, given that the only Mod Soul he'd ever interacted with on an extended basis was Kon (who was both a coward and a pervert by nature), Kirika really couldn't blame her brother for his ambivalence toward their new allies.

At least not too much, anyway.

"To put it simply Aniki, Quincy simply have a far, far sharper Spiritual Sense compared to even the most skilled trackers among the Soul Reapers." the ginger soul responded with a roll of her eyes. "Outside of Yamamoto-sōtaichō and the old guard of the Goteijūsantai anyway, and that has more to do with experience rather than ability."

Then again, while a part of her brother's reluctance to work with Ririn and the others was his bad experiences with Kon, another was simply her brother being a stubborn introvert. Ichigo wasn't exactly the most outgoing guy, it took him time and effort for him to trust, let alone like, other people. He simply didn't like working with new people and preferred to stick with the comrades he already knew and trusted.

Shaking her head slightly, she continued. "The point is that, as a Quincy, Uryū relies heavily on drawing in and manipulating external Reishi in order to fight, which in turn greatly hones and strengthens his ability to sense abnormalities in the Reishi around him. Since Soul Reapers like you and me rely on internal Reishi manipulation for most of our combat abilities, we don't have the same benefit; we have to train our Spiritual Sense separately rather than naturally, meaning most of the time we lag far behind. Ririn and the other Mod Souls are different because their sensory abilities are artificial, Hat'n'Clogs practically built sonar systems into their heads specifically designed to detect any Reiryoku and Reiatsu sources that aren't human, Soul Reaper, Quincy or Hollow."

The petite Mod Soul beside her flushed at the honest praise the redhead was giving her.

"Fine, I get it." the Deathberry sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. He obviously still wasn't happy about it, but he could at least get the necessity. "So can you feel anything yet Ririn?"

"Nope." Ririn shook her head. "The Reiatsu and Reiryoku patterns of a Bount aren't all that different from a regular human's unless they're either using their powers or feeding. So unless they get hungry or decide to attack us, we'll just have to search until we get close enough to one of them for me to detect."

"Great." Ichigo deadpanned.

The three of them were searching Karakura Honchō, while Chad and Noba searched Minamikawase, Orihime and Kurōdo searched Sakurabashi and Kasazashi, and Uryū searched Kitakawase and Tsubakidai. Those were the outermost sections of Karakura Town, holding the main entry and exit points for the city itself, or at least the bridges to them.

Once they'd searched those districts, they'd start moving the sweeps inward through the rest of the town and, hopefully, pinpoint the exact location of the Bount's hideout.

'I hope Yoruichi-sensei manages to convince the Sōtaichō to send us some reinforcements.' Kirika bit her lip in worry as they roof hopped across the town in a search pattern. 'We have no idea about their numbers, their powers, or even their general strength levels. I do not like working with so little intelligence.'

Unlike with the Seireitei or the Hollows, there was precious little known about the Bount, due to how (relatively) recently their species had come into existence. What little Urahara had to offer was due to his research into scientific endeavours prior to his establishment of the Soul Reaper Research and Development Bureau, a bit of passing interest and what he had heard from his seniors in the Goteijūsantai who had been involved in the entire mess.

That made Kirika nervous.

She was the type that liked to learn as much about her enemies as she could before she actually faced them so she could figure out her tactics beforehand.

Hollows were easy, for the most part anyway; they were mostly little more than cannon fodder with just their large, powerful bodies and no instincts beyond animal cunning. The dangerous ones were either the ones whose souls were strong and twisted enough that some portion of their personality survived being turned into Hollows, like that Shrieker asshole, or that had managed to survive long enough, through either luck or animal cunning, to develop mentally and gain, learn, or develop some form of special ability or attack, like the Grand Fisher bastard.

Those were the ones you had to be cautious around.

Her general rule for dealing with Hollows was if they didn't charge you mindlessly, treat them as if they were more dangerous than they looked.

Soul Reapers, at least the lower ranked ones, were mostly the same. They tended to be cannon fodder that relied on either Zanjutsu or lower-level Kidō to attack. Mid-rankers who had at least unlocked their Shikai were more dangerous, depending on what kind of abilities they unlocked and how much experience and skill they had with them. Captains, and anyone else who'd unlocked Bankai, were always a real and serious threat.

The Bounts though…their leadership structure, the power of their Dolls, nearly everything about them was a complete mystery to Kirika. Exactly how many Bounts were they going to have to face? Did their Dolls have different release levels like a Zanpakutō or was it a simple division between a Sealed Form and an Awakened Form? Did they have any other abilities or techniques outside their Dolls like the Soul Reapers did? Was the power displayed by Sōma Yoshino and Goethe the average level of a Bount's Doll, or was it stronger or weaker?

Those questions, and more, ran through the oldest Kurosaki daughter's head as they moved through their patrol. Yoruichi had driven it into her head that information about your enemy was one of the keys to defeating them; the more information you possessed, the more likely you could find a weakness and overcome your enemy, even if they were stronger than you. Inversely, the less information you had, the better the chances that they had some trick up their sleeve that will catch you off guard and end you fast and hard.

Her internal monologue was suddenly cut off as Ririn's head snapped to their right. "Wait, I can sense a Bount! No, two! They're both heading directly toward Uryū!"

"I knew that this was going to happen! Letting him wander off on his own was like putting a target on his back." Kirika growled. "But noooo~! 'I am a Quincy and do not need a partner, Kurosaki.' Gah! I am going to sock that lone wolf in the jaw for being such a dumbass!"

Neither Ichigo or Ririn responded to her tirade, allowing her to vent in peace as they started racing toward the Kitakawase district using Shunpo.

Kirika could feel Chad and Noba already heading in the same direction, while Orihime and Kurōdo hesitated for a moment before they did the same, though at a far slower pace.

'Ah…knew I forgot something.' the redhead thought guiltily. 'Orihime doesn't have a high-speed movement technique like everyone else does. Fortunately for her, Kurōdo does know Shunpo. We're going to have to correct that at some point, can't have our healer unable to get to help in time.'

She could perhaps be forgiven for not helping Orihime develop a parallel to Shunpo just yet. Before the war, it was due to the time crunch they were under to get both spiritually aware humans combat ready. Afterward, she'd been focused on beating some sense into her brother's stubborn head and getting him to keep training as well.

Still that was no excuse for leaving one of her students, one of her friends, with an incomplete skillset.

The trio appeared in a blur on a rooftop overlooking the large square surrounding a water fountain where Uryū was currently fighting…

"…are those slimes?" Ichigo deadpanned.

"It looks that way." Kirika blinked.

It did indeed look as if the Quincy was fighting a pair of slime monsters that were plucked straight from some fantasy RPG. Large, gelatinous blobs, each about the size of a couple of horses, that were constantly extending long pseudopods of liquid that tried to restrain and slash at Uryū constantly, keeping the Quincy on the defensive and moving about using Hirenkyaku. His return fire was surprisingly ineffective, passing straight through what Kirika assumed were a pair of Dolls without harming them.

"Well, regardless of what they look like, we have to help Uryū." the female Kurosaki said firmly. "Ready to kick ass, Ririn-chan? Aniki?"

"You betcha." Ichigo nodded, drawing Zangetsu from his back with one hand, the bandage wrapping falling away on command.

"Ready to rock." Ririn confirmed, psyching herself up for combat.

"Then let's get to it." Kirika said. "Ririn, place an illusion that blocks the sight of anyone looking into the square. Dolls presumably need commands from their Bount masters to fight properly, so blocking the eyesight of the Bount should at least hinder those things or force their masters out of hiding. Aniki, use low powered Getsuga Tenshō to attack the Dolls. I'll get to Uryū and find out what's going on."

Moving into a Shunpo before her brother could argue with her, Kirika appeared to the side of Ishida at a safe distance before walking over to him.

"Kurosaki." the Last Quincy said tightly as he fired three more arrows, all ineffective, at the Dolls.

"Uryū. What the heck are these things and what have you tried?" the female Soul Reaper asked.

"They ambushed me by leaping out of the fountain." the bespectacled boy replied simply as he kept his eyes locked on the two slimes. "My Hirenkyaku is much better than before I entered the Soul Society, so I was able to dodge their initial attacks."

"Bakudō #81: Dankū." Kirika snapped out, raising one hand and created a shield between the two of them and the incoming attacks, which splattered rather ineffectively against the barrier. Apparently these two were not power types. Then the Dolls found themselves under a barrage of blue-white energy crescents from Ichigo.

"Thank you. To continue, they appear to absorb water to rapidly heal themselves of any damage I manage to deal. As long as they have access to the fountain, they can likely replenish their bodies all night." the Ishida continued, looking grim. "My arrows are proving to be all-but useless against them."

"How are they attacking anyway? It doesn't look like there's anything special to the water they're using." Kirika frowned.

"At a guess, whatever ability these Dolls possess likely centres around water manipulation via infusing their Reiryoku into it in order to control it. So the correct description would spiritually infused water. Their attacks do seem to be lacking in power, but they are also apparently very close to indestructible. More so, rather than simply attacking to kill, their attacks seem more designed to slow and weaken their target as well as attempting to bind and ensnare them. So they likely kill by either desiccating a target by draining the water from them or simply drowning them by forcing their bodies down the target's throat," the Quincy theorized stoically.

"Neither sounds like a real fun way go." Kirika offered sarcastically.

"Agreed." the Quincy nodded. "Sadly, so long as they are near a source of water they are incredibly difficult to take down permanently. And considering we're in the middle of a city…"

"…and water pipes are freaking everywhere, they're never far away from a source of water." Kirika concluded as she raised her hands. "Dammit. Well, let's see how they deal with a bit of fire to boil them off. Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadō # 31: Shakkahō!"

An explosive burst of bright red fire erupted from her hands and hurled itself at the water Dolls. She was limiting her power, just in case. No point shouting to all and sundry that she had a talent with Fire Kidō for anyone watching.

The Shakkahō slammed into both Dolls simultaneously, the pair of them seeming to curl in on themselves defensively moments before it impacted; boiling away and evaporating over a third of their bodies in an instant.

Sadly, the moment the attack started to fade, more water started flying towards them from the fountain, quickly replenishing both Dolls as they uncurled themselves.

"Damn it, this is gonna take all night." Kirika groaned.

Same Time

Ugaki's Room, Bount Mansion

"How are they doing, Ugaki?"

"Poorly, Kariya-sama. As soon as the twins attacked the Quincy with Guhl and Günther, the other members of his group started moving to reinforce him. Three have already arrived, two more are fast approaching, while the final two are still in route. Should I use Gesell to aid them?"

"No. Signal Cain and Yoshi to go to their aid. Your Gesell is our mansion's defence mechanism, we can't risk exposing it at this stage. I'll get Ichinose headed out as well."

"As you wish, Kariya-sama."

With the Twins

Rooftops near the Square, Kitakawase

"Dammit! Why the hell can't we see inside the square?!" Ban scowled. He and his brother were dressed in nearly matching outfits, with black shorts, navy blue running shoes, orange t-shirts and brown hoodies, but whereas Ban wore a white beanie on his head, his brother Hō wore a red and black baseball cap on his head.

The only other physical difference was that Hō had short-cut hair, while Ban's hair was longer, parted in the middle and mostly hidden under his beanie.

"They must have some sort of illusionist with them." Hō replied to his twin. "It doesn't really matter though, because…"

"…our Dolls are sentient." Ban finished. A unique side-effect of their nature as twin Bounts was that they could communicate with each other telepathically and even share control of their Dolls, so speaking aloud was only necessary for speaking with others. Or just to settle each other's nerves.

The twins blinked as they spotted one of Gesell's flying eyes approaching them. It shone a light and a pair of arms wielding a sword and a scythe appeared on the surface of the roof before vanishing, the eye-drone of Ugaki's Doll stealthily flying away.

"Cain and Yoshi? Why would Kariya send those two to help us?" Hō looked puzzled. "They get on like oil and water, same with Koga and Yoshi."

"Well, like master, like student; so they say." Ban shrugged. Koga Gō had been the traditional trainer of new Bount as long as anyone could remember. He had taken Cain as his personal student after the younger Bount had successfully summoned his Doll and restrained himself from being reckless. The older Bount disliked Yoshi, who didn't care about anything other than satisfying her lust for battle and bloodshed. A dislike that Cain had taken heed from.

"This isn't good though, brother. We're not able to control our Dolls telepathically if we can't see where to direct them." the beanie-wearing Bount said with narrowed eyes. "Guhl and Günther may be sentient and powerful, but they also aren't that smart on their own. If they get hit in their cores…!"

Hō grimaced. That was the main weakness of their Doll; unlike most other Dolls, Guhl and Günther's real forms remained the same even when released, remaining a pair of plastic bottle lids. The surrounding water acting as both armour and weapon, as well as a distraction, the two Dolls were usually able to deal with their enemies before they could puzzle out the small, innocuous-looking cores that were their true forms.

If a Bount's Doll was destroyed, the Bount would die also, their body rapidly ageing as their life force literally bled itself out of the spiritual wound their Doll's destruction caused. With such weak cores on their Dolls, Ban and Hō usually preferred to ambush their enemies in close quarters, such as inside a building, and quickly drown them to death. This sort of open battle was not playing to their strengths.

Had Kariya not told them to use the fountain as their ambush point, they wouldn't have used it.

The brothers spotted the figures of Cain and Yoshi approaching from street level and grinned at one another. Now they'd give the damned Soul Reapers who had interfered something to think about!

With Kirika

"This is starting to get damned tedious!" the redheaded girl snapped in irritation. She'd been throwing out Shakkahō, one after another, and the Dolls had just kept drawing on more and more water from the fountain to restore their bodies.

"El Directo!" a male voice bellowed. A blast of pure spiritual energy slammed into one of the Dolls that scattered a good portion of its body across the pavement.

Chad landed, his black, red and white arm already deployed, Noba silently following him down. Unusually for him, he was scowling at the enemy. Maybe he was irked at the Dolls attacking someone two to one?

"Koten Zanshun! I Reject!"

Just as suddenly as Chad's attack, Orihime's only purely offensive attack struck the other Doll, bisecting it diagonally. The caster, held in a bridal carry by Kurōdo, landed next to Uryū.

"Are you OK, Ishida-kun?" she asked as the Mod Soul let her down, Tsubaki flying over to her, ready to be used again at her command.

"I'm fine, Inoue-san." the bespectacled boy replied with a nod. "Our enemies in this instance are resilient ones; they've stood up to both my arrows and the combined attacks of the Kurosaki siblings."

"Tsubaki, what did you cut when you attacked that thing?" Kirika asked.

"Hm? Oh, it's you. Finally ditched the mask, huh?" the angry little fairy snorted. "Nothin' but water. Water with spiritual power in it, but just water nonetheless."

"There has to be a trick to this…" Kirika growled, before raising her hands again. "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams, unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"

The slightly higher-ranked fire Kidō exploded from her hands towards the Dolls, pale blue-white flames engulfing one of them in a miniature inferno. Something flew out of the back of the Doll before it was completely enshrouded and Kirika's sharp eyes caught sight of it at once. It was a small grey bottle cap, the kind you'd find on a regular bottle of water that you'd buy from a convenience store. With an inaudible 'plop', it fell into the water of the fountain, even as its old body was boiled into non-existence by Kirika's Demon Way Spell.

"Uryū, did you see that?" she asked.

"I did. So the true body of these Dolls are those little bottle lids, hm?" the archer adjusted his glasses with one finger. "A rather crafty tactic, I must say, but now that I know what to look for, I can deal with them."

In an instant, he drew and fired a Reishi arrow from the Sanrei Bow, straight at the Doll that Orihime had cut in two. It would have struck the small target perfectly, had gout of water from the fountain not diverted it, with the second Doll rising menacingly from the water within the fountain.

"Tch." the Quincy clicked his tongue at the interference.

"Well, well, well…isn't this an interesting little trick?" a female voice said with arrogance and condescension in every syllable. Looking over, the group saw a woman walk out of the shadows of a street and into the square proper, breaking through Ririn's illusion. She was of medium height and wore a purple qipao along with beige trousers and black martial arts slippers. Her long turquoise hair fluttered in the light breeze.

"Ah! She's a Bount!" Ririn warned.

"Indeed I am." the woman gave a hungry smirk as she pulled a fan out of one pocket, a red and tan one. "Now let's dance! Zeige Dich, Nieder! (Show Yourself, Nieder!)"

In an instant, the fan lengthened and changed into the shape of a jian, while a chain dropped from the pommel with a red metal fan with spiky steel-grey tips at the ends into her other hand.

"You should have attacked from cover, Yoshi." a younger male voice scolded her from behind her. "Zeige Dich, Wainton! (Show Yourself, Wainton!)"

An explosion of green energy heralded the appearance of a large glowing green mantis-like monster. Its body was thin and spindly, with a large head with wide red eyes that glittered like rubies and large hands, with razor-sharp blades on them for fingers.

"Ah shaddup already, Cain!" Yoshi snapped irritably. "We're here to get rid of these bugs, so stop being a downer already!"

"Why do I have to work with this violent fighting idiot?" Cain bemoaned as he came forth. He was dressed in what looked like ordinary clothes; blue dress trousers, a white shirt, a blue jacket, black shoes and a fedora on his head.

His face was…about average. Really, if it wasn't for the glowing praying mantis of doom in front of him, you wouldn't think to look twice at him, save for his choice in outdated, unfashionable headwear.

"Aw fer cryin' out loud. More of 'em?" Ichigo landed, hefting his butcher's knife of a Zanpakutō onto his shoulder as he glared at the new enemies.

"Looks like it." Kirika narrowed her eyes at the new enemies. Whoever were in control of the water Dolls was keeping a low profile and suppressing their Reiatsu signature, so she had no clue how strong they were. These ones though…the woman was at least as strong as Fourth Seat, while the man was slightly stronger that that.

"Take them down, Wainton!" the man ordered his Doll, which moved in a blur similar to the Shunpo. Kirika blurred in front of the target of the green Doll, Chad, and used an Eishōhaki Dankū to block the advance of the giant thing for a moment.

"Chad, fall back, this one's too fast for you!" she shouted, drawing her sword for the first time in the battle.

Reluctantly, Chad did as he was told. As far as he had come, he could recognize when something was out of his league. Even after learning Paso del Viente, he still wasn't fast enough to deal with that mantis thing's speed.

"Huh…she's good. She read Wainton's movements." Cain blinked as his Doll shattered the thin barrier and tried to slice and dice the girl with his blade fingers. Much to his shock, the girl expertly fended off the slashes with, if not ease, then practised and confident skill. "Skilled and quick too."

"Heh…not bad...but we have our orders." Yoshi smirked nastily as she spread and pointed her fan at the orangette. "Nadelangriff! (Needle Attack!)"

The fan shivered for a moment before a spray of steel needles shot out and soared straight towards Orihime, who put a determined look on her face.

"Santen Kesshun, I reject!" she cried.

Instantly, an upside-down triangle of orange energy bloomed into place in front of her, blocking the hail of steel needles. They pinged off it like peas off a plastic lid.

"Enough of that!" Ichigo leapt forwards and chopped down with his blade, forcing the female Bount to cease her attack and block Zangetsu with her jian.

"Surprised you can move so quickly with that oversized butter-knife of yours, kid!" Yoshi snarled, surprisingly capable of matching the orange-haired Soul Reaper in terms of strength, for at least a moment

"Hadō #4: Byakurai!" Orihime shouted, firing a blast of pale lightning at the Bount woman, who quickly disengaged from the blade lock with Ichigo to leap back, showing a surprisingly impressive display of acrobatics.

"Whoops…almost had me there." the female Bount smirked. "Let's see you try that again!"

Practically blurring as she leaped towards Orihime, Yoshi snapped the fan closed and held tight onto it before lashing out, the chain and jian acting like a flail towards the orangette.

Letting out a squeak of shock, the girl scrambled out of the way, letting Uryū snipe at the green-haired Bount with his Sanrei Bow. Yoshi laughed as she spun her Doll around to destroy and deflect the Reishi arrows, clearly enjoying herself.

'Great, another combat junkie!' Ichigo mentally growled as he ran towards the fighting group. 'She's like a weaker, female version of Kenpachi!'

Meanwhile, Kirika was having trouble maintaining her imitation of Tessai's defensive Zanjutsu style. The massive mantis called Wainton was big, but unnaturally fast for its size, not giving her any leeway in between its strikes to make a counterattack.

"Just give up already. You can't last forever." the Doll said to her frankly.

"Sorry, but I don't give up just because I'm pressed in a fight." the redhead snarked back. "How about you and your master leave Karakura Town? I promise not to pursue you both if you leave."

She was actually being honest here. She didn't really give a damn about the Bount other than stopping them from running around and draining people of their souls, and possibly stopping them from invading Soul Society…if that was indeed their goal.

"Sorry, but we don't back down from the threat of a small group like yours." Wainton replied before renewing his assault. Suddenly, Kirika seemed to vanish and then multiply into a small platoon in just an instant, before charging right at the Doll.

"What the…?" Cain blinked, before licking his tongue in irritation. "Tch. An illusion-user."

A Bount who had been killed several decades ago had possessed a Doll which could use illusions. That Doll had been a particularly annoying sparring partner.

"Wainton, all but one of those are illusions!" he called. "Just like dealing with Morgennebel!"

The mantis-like Doll crinkled its eyes in an approximation of a smile before the glowing green energy around it flared up and shot out, blasting all of the illusionary Kirika clones, passing right through them. No signs of the real one however.

Jerking his head up as his spiritual senses blaring, Cain's eyes widened as a man wearing a black bodysuit and a purple masked hood appeared above his Doll, a black-red ball of energy appearing in front of him…disgorging the real Kurosaki Kirika, sword drawn back and ready to strike as she sped towards her target.

"UP!" he shouted at Wainton, the Doll reacting automatically to his master's warning and unleashing a pillar of green energy that slammed into Kirika as she sped down…until she vanished.

Then Wainton shrieked in pain as the redheaded Soul Reaper appeared in a blur behind it and slashed it with her blade, a long diagonal cut appearing down the back of the Doll. Seconds later, the large mantis vanished in a blur, to reappear a short distance from its master.

"No, Wainton!" Cain shouted in dismay.

Just then, a barrage of water blades shot towards the female Soul Reaper before she could continue her attack, taking her off guard. However, the man who had made her appear suddenly swooped in and opened that red-black opening again that sucked up the water, before opening up a second that spat the water blades towards Wainton.

Cain's Doll scattered the weak water attacks with a swipe of one arm, while Cain himself cursed to himself and started evaluating the situation more thoroughly.

'Dammit, shit! This redhead is fast and skilled, and that man helping her seems to have some kind of space warping ability!' the blonde Bount thought in growing concern. 'Then there's those ones fighting Yoshi! The orange-haired Soul Reaper has more spiritual power than I can believe, the girl has that odd shield to fend Yoshi off with, and that large boy with the arm keeps trying to blast her to bits! Even with me, Yoshi and the twins fighting them, we're outnumbered and outgunned. Worse, two of them haven't even joined in yet, that weird guy in the suit and glasses is just standing guard next to that short blonde girl! We need to fall back or we're screwed!'

"Don't make an indication that I'm here." a quiet voice spoke, making Cain freeze for a second before he recognised it.

"Ichinose, what the hell kept you?" he asked in an undertone.

"I was watching to see if you could handle this situation without me. Sadly, it seems not." the voice of Ichinose Maki said softly. "Kariya-sama will be most disappointed in you."

"We are outnumbered, and can't you feel the amount of Reiryoku that boy has?!" Cain hissed softly as Wainton pressed Kirika still. "That's ignoring everyone else, especially that redheaded assassin! We have to withdraw before one of us ends up dead, we need a fucking plan to take these guys out!"

"Very well. I shall provide your opportunity. Flee when it happens." the renegade Soul Reaper stated before falling silent.

'He's a creepy bastard, no mistake about it.' Cain thought with a small shudder. 'The guy's loyal to Kariya, but he gives me the chills with how loyal he is.'

He had been with Koga and Kariya when the rogue Soul Reaper had been recruited, and something about the intensity of the loyalty of Ichinose Maki made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He was a fanatic, plain and simple.

More than that, the way the Soul Reaper spoke of his former Captain, Kiganjō, was downright worshipful. Brr.

Ichinose Maki stealthily advanced to an optimum placement for his distraction under the effect of his zanpakutō's Kussetsu Shōheki (Refraction Barrier), bending light around him to appear invisible. Nijigasumi allowed him to control light for offensive, defensive and supplementary purposes, which was a far more versatile zanpakutō than most Soul Reapers possessed, even those who were lucky enough to possess a purely Kidō-type Zanpakutō.

He assessed the situation with a frown. Yoshi (who he mentally ascribed the unflattering title of Bount Zaraki) was gradually being overwhelmed by the actions of the boy with a ridiculous amount of Reiryoku, the Quincy, the giant with that odd arm and the orange-haired girl with an odd shielding technique, while Cain and Wainton were being countered quite evenly by the redheaded female and the masked man with some form of spatial powers.

The twins were fairly ineffective at this point, their Dolls reduced to taking potshots of opportunity at the edges of the conflict. Ichinose was grudgingly in agreement with Cain's judgement. A withdrawal was the best possible ploy at this point; they hadn't expected the group around the Quincy to be quite so organized, to immediately close ranks around him when he was attacked.

This required Kariya-sama to think on a possible counter-plan. In the meanwhile, he had better start his distraction so his allies could withdraw.

Just before he did so, however, the feeling of an immense amount of Reiatsu appearing pressed down on him and every other person present, as three figures appeared above the battlefield. Two wore the shihakushō of Soul Reapers, while the third wore an orange jacket and spandex trousers. It was the last that had him worried, as she was loosing a ton of Reiatsu similar to the boy…a Captain-class Soul Reaper!

During his nigh-century of self-imposed exile, Ichinose had diligently trained and practised, expanding his reservoir of Reiryoku by a not inconsiderable amount, surpassing all of the Lieutenants he had known back in the Seireitei. He was also, if he was any judge, coming close to the borderline of possessing just the right amount of Reiryoku to possibly awaken his Bankai. Another decade or two and he might possibly accomplish that.

As it was though, he wasn't a Captain, and that woman was. Unlike the boy, who was seemingly only partially trained in controlling his Reiryoku and Reiatsu, hers was held tightly to her body, only a minor amount spilling out unrestrained.

He could also swear that she looked familiar…

"Yoruichi-sensei!" the redhead called happily, making Ichinose's eyes widen. Yoruichi? As in Shihōin Yoruichi? The exiled Princess if the Shihōin Clan, former Commander of the Onmitsukidō and former Captain of Squad 2?! No wonder he recognised her!

'Not good…not good whatsoever.' he thought rapidly, keeping a firm hold over his rising panic. 'I have to strike quickly to distract and disorient them enough that they cannot pursue us. Kidō will not be enough…so be it.'

Drawing his faithful blade, he held it in a standard Zanjutsu ready position that Kirika, as a kendoka, would refer to as the jōdan-no-kamae.

"Kōka hirameke, Nijigasumi! (Flicker with splendour, Rainbow Mist!)" he said coldly. "Seisei niji no hikari! (Purified Rainbow Light!)"

With Yoruichi

The sudden blast of blindingly brilliant light struck the Shunshin's eyes like a hammer. The downsides of being a werecat were few and rarely came up, but they were there. Heightened senses could be taken advantage of, just as whoever had blasted this area with light had just done.

Around her, she could hear the grunts and cried of her allies as they were blinded by the light as well. The light went on for quite some time before dying down at long last.

Furiously blinking spots out of her eyes, Yoruichi looked around to see the rest of them just as pained, and just as bewildered as she was. All of the opponents they had been fighting, both Bount and Dolls, were long gone.

"Owwie, what was that?" Orihime complained, eyes watering.

"It wasn't one of the Bount we were fighting, that's for sure." Kirika said sourly, blinking rapidly. "Urgh, they got away, and we never even saw the Bounts controlling those water Dolls. Well, at least we got some information about the combat styles and Doll abilities of four of the Bount."

Hopping down to land next to her apprentice, the purple-haired woman ruffled Kirika's hair in a proud, maternal fashion. "That's my girl." she said with a grin.

"Ack, sensei!" Kirika grumbled good-naturedly, swatting the hand away from her hair. "Not in front of everyone!"

"Why is it you can't keep out of trouble for just one day, hm?" the werecat asked with a grin. "Seriously, I go to the Seireitei for one day and I come back to see you having an all-out war against three-odd Bount."

"Four. There were two distinct cores controlling those water Dolls, which means two Bount users in all likelihood." Kirika corrected her. She frowned as she scanned the area unhappily. "We got a good read on them…but I'm worried they might have gotten a good read on us in return."

"Always the kinda thing that happens in these cases, Kiri-chan." Yoruichi sighed. "Against smart or cautious enemies, anyway. A stupid, brash or uncaring opponent would have sent them piecemeal at you, letting you defeat them in detail. Whoever was in charge in the field here was smart enough to see a losing proposition and used whatever the hell that was just now to fall back and scatter their forces."

"Hey, Uryū! Did you sense anything odd when that flash of light went off just now?" Kirika called out.

Looking thoughtful, Ishida flashed over using his Hirenkyaku so he didn't have to shout back. "Now that you mention it, I thought I could feel the Reiryoku of a Soul Reaper just for a moment when that light started to flare up." he said with a frown. "And I don't recognise whoever it was, either."

"Considering the sheer number of Soul Reapers that there are, that doesn't surprise me." Rukia put in as she landed next to Yoruichi. "But how could there be one siding with the Bount?"

"Kuchiki-san, there are at least six former Soul Reapers wandering around, so why not more?" the Quincy pointed out. "So long as someone was smart about it, it isn't actually all that hard to desert while on missions or even on a regular basis so long as the walls of the Seireitei aren't down."

Renji scowled as he joined the group, but reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, he's got a point. Question is, who is it?"

"Questions for later." Yoruichi shook her head. "For now, let's go back to the Urahara Shōten so we can debrief and compare notes about our enemies…as well as introduce our new helpers."

Agreeing in a mixture of nods and verbal confirmations, the group of spiritually aware humans, Quincy, Soul Reapers and Mod Souls started to head towards the Urahara Shōten, unaware of the form of Ichinose Maki watching from a fair distance away.

"A Lieutenant and a Seated Officer in the World of the Living and working with humans and Quincy? What is going on inside the Seireitei?" the rogue muttered in frustration. Ever since the Ōkyū no Kabe (Royal Palace Walls) had descended, he hadn't been able to infiltrate the Seireitei as he had done every so often since he had sworn loyalty to Kariya-sama, so the current state of the Goteijūsantai was something of a mystery, aside from the fact that three Captains had betrayed the Seireitei.

Which ones he didn't know, but that wasn't his main concern. What was his concern was the fact that the Goteijūsantai, an organisation that is almost entirely a group of elitist, arrogant, holier-than-thou idiots, was sending high-ranking Soul Reapers to apparently liaise with exiles, Quincies and humans, a dramatic departure from a millennium of tradition.

He was concerned.

'No…Kariya-sama clearly has a plan.' Ichinose shook his head. 'We learned from this attack, so we may plan the next one with a greater degree of experience. We will emerge triumphant next time.'

Casting one final look at the departing figures of his enemies, Ichinose Maki turned and vanished in the blur of the Shunpo technique.

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Next Chapter: Mod Soul Ririn's Wrath

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