Chapter 31: Kenpachi

Shiro scratched his head as he looked at the utterly defeated lieutenants. He kind of felt sorry for them...kind of. Looking over to Orihime he saw that the girl was healing his brother with her little fairies. Her power was strong, that he knew. The thing was though, he still didn't quite understand her ability to reject things. How far did that power go? As if sensing him looking at her, Orihime's eyes met his dark ones causing Shiro to look away, a light dusting of pink appearing on his cheeks. Now wasn't the time for his little crush on her to make an inconvenience appearance.

It was then that both brother's felt an enormous amount of reiatsu heading their way. Ichigo stood up as the healing shield vanished. "You guys head off to find Rukia." he told them with a look of determination entering his eyes. "Shiro and I will stay and hold off whatever army is coming our way."

"Ganju will lead the way." Shiro stated as he hefted his sword over his shoulder.

"Huh?!" Ganju and Ishida bother exclaimed in unison.

"I should-" Ishida began before glaring at Ganju.

"They should-" Ganju began before glaring at Ishida.

"We don't even know where Rukia is." Orihime's voice cut through to the two arguing, gaining everyone's attention.

"She'd be where they keep prisoners." Ichigo stated with obvious annoyance appearing in his tone.

Shiro shook his head. "You're not feeling for her Ichigo." he said causing his brother to look at him. "She's off in that direction."

"Huh?" Orihime asked sounding just as confused as what everyone was feeling. "I can't even sense her."

Everyone looked at Shiro who shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I'm just filtering everything and everyone out and just searching for her spiritual energy."

"Oh?" Ikkaku's voice sounded weakly. "You're already able to do that?" He chuckled before wincing. "Only captain level shinigami practice that."

"Weren't you half dead a second ago?" Shiro asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

Ikkaku winced in pain. "Shut up." he groaned slightly as he began to pass out again.

Ichigo bent over the unconscious man's body. "Go." he told his friends who followed his order. Ichigo stood back up and looked at his twin. "How many?" Knowing very well that it Shiro could sense Rukia, than he most likely could sense the army that was approaching them.

Shiro grinned, his dark eyes shining as his body seemed to radiate excitement. "Only one." As he answered as he gripped his sword tightly just as a single figure appeared at the gate of eleventh division.

Kenpachi walked through the gates of his division expecting the same sight of his men carrying on with their duties; instead, he came across a battlefield. His men were laying injured on the ground. Some had black eyes already forming or bruises littering their bodies. His two best fighters laid on the ground hurt worse than any of the others. Ikkaku's injuries indicated a violent assailant with great power. Yumichika's injuries looked to be made from an incredible kido attack. Neither were conscious.

He was about to kick one awake when he felt something near. Years of instincts kicked in at that moment. He drew his sword from its sheath and turned to take on his assailant. His eyes widening in surprise as two young men stacked at the same moment. Swords drawn they came down upon him hard. His arm felt like it was about to break from the shear power the two youths were giving off as their swords hit his. The three blades sparked. Pushing them back, the two landed on their feet only a few feet from him.

Kenpachi grinned broadly before laughing like a crazy man. It had been years since he'd come across a single worthy adversary able to take him on, but now he had come across two! It was exciting! Forgoing any conversation to learn who they were, he swung his blade at them.

The orange haired youth ran towards him first, their blades struck each other hard. Deflecting the other easily before coming back down violently to strike the other. Stepping back in surprise Kenpachi looked at the wound on his chest. It took a lot of power to break through his skin because his reiatsu acted like a hollows hierro, a protective barrier over his skin.

Before he could reacted though, the second teen jumped over the first. The black and gold eyes of this one reminded Kenpachi of one of those higher evolved hollows, but he could somehow tell that this kid wasn't a hollow; only he wasn't purely human either. Not wanting to dwell on it, Kenpachi advanced on the silver haired teen who had an equally wild look as Kenpachi did as he attacked the squad eleven's captain. This time as Kenpachi's blade hit the teen's the silver haired youth's zanpakuto burst into hot blue flames. Suddenly the flames became all consuming, causing Kenpachi to actually jump away from them.

"He's strong Ichigo." Kenpachi heard the silver haired teen speak.

"Yeah." Ichigo agreed causing Kenpachi to grin even more. "Be careful Shiro."

"Sounds like you two didn't know who you were about to fight." Kenpachi concluded. "Didn't you do any reconnaissance before coming to my division?" He saw a bit of confusion from them. "My division prides themselves on our strength. We're the strongest squad."

"Obviously you're not." Ichigo concluded with a soft snort.

"Though you are strong." Shiro admitted. "They could use more training in that area."

"Why have you Ryoka come here?" Kenpachi asked seeming to truly want to know.

"Because of a traitor here that is about to disrupt the natural order of things." Ichigo answered.

Kenpachi chuckled as he recalled a traitor from years ago. "The egghead Urahara Kisuke?" he asked.

Egghead? Both teens wondered at the same time. An image of Urahara coming to their minds wearing a geek outfit came to mind. Both teens turned away laughing at the image. This reaction seemed to confuse Kenpachi.

"Not him." Shiro answered as he was the first to recover. "One of your captains is about to reveal his true colors. Urahara is one of his many victims who figured him out, but was made out to be the bad guy."

"Prove it." Kenpachi dared them, his sword lowering slightly. He wasn't one to persecute somebody if they truly were innocent.

Neither teen could think of something that would prove Urahara's innocence. Not until Shiro remembered something. "Shinji."

"What was that?" Kenpachi inquired. There was no way he had heard that name spoken. The name of one of the captain's who had been killed over a hundred years ago.

"The creepy piano tooth, Shinji Hirako." Shiro answered, a grin appeared on his face as Kenpachi began laughing like a crazy person. Ichigo looked confused now. Why was that guy's name important?

"If you're calling him that name, you've must have met him." Kenpachi concluded.

"Not sure who is crazier, him or that shoe throwing bitch, Hiyori." Shiro stated, hoping he'd proven something.

Kenpachi seemed to weigh his options. If he continued to fight these kids, he might have some fun, but if he helped them...he grinned. "I'm a gonna help you kids."

"Huh?" both inquired with confusion in their voices.

"If there is a traitor, that means I'll get a better fight outta him than I will outta ya two." He then turned around. "Yachiru!" Suddenly a link haired girl appeared out of literally nowhere. "Get those idiots a healer, then let's find this traitor!"

"Okay!" The little pink haired girl agreed. The two brother's look at each other. Was it them or was that just say too easy?I

In the world of the living in their secret base, Shinji Hirako sneezed a third time, causing his fellow Visoreds to look at him with a strange looks. The former captain of the fifth division groaned and swore somebody was talking about him again.

M-Angel: Well I had a couple of days off from work and decided to write this chapter. Hope everybody is having a good evening. ^_^

Eyilin - Yeah, he is.

Mukuro234 - I hope this chapter met with your expectations. ^_^

Black Moon's Rising - Yes he did. He's a lot stronger than Ikkaku.

CloudSkylark18 - Oh that makes me so very happy to hear that. I'll try to continue to update regularly.