The Lost Shinigami

by makoto x chelia

Takumi Urahara, believing himself to be a human who could see spirits yet with no real powers within the crazy world of Shinigami's, and Hollows, went through life trying his best with what little he had to work with, but that changed when he met a certain Shinigami, the same for Karin and Yuzu Kurosaki, and their adventure began, digging into his past, to fight for the future.

21. The maidens growth!

Hello, and welcome to the next chapter!

Dark King Marcel; Don't worry, it isn't permanent. Thanks very much!

Clarent excalibur; Thanks very much! Yeah, Yuzu's gonna hold her own, she might not be able to beat Nanao, but she'll put up a good fight against her. Ooh a scene like that might play out later on. We'll see them doing stuff as the arc goes~ Renji eventually will join the rescue yeah~ We will yeah, we'll see a big Orihime moment this chapter. Haha, Giselle's got her army building~ I could see Orihime guessing things like that lol.

Oblivious IJ; Yup, Giselle acquired a Zombie! Yeah, we're getting more and more hints to his past, and we'll see some more in the future. It surely is. It seems that it does yeah~

ShadowUzumaki55; Thanks very much! Yeah, quite emotional between the two men. Yeah, Karin's got a long way to go for that, and Ikkaku's in Giselle's army. They are yeah, lets see if they can get some more people on side.

Mystery889; In this, Giselle's just a girl. Karin has Zangetsu, if you know the manga, then you'll know why it is Hollow rather than old man.

Guest 1; That sounds like a great idea, and pretty fun for some situations as well. I could see that happening, thanks for the suggestion!

Skull Flame; Yeah, Yachiru surely can be funny. Haha, don't bad mouth Chappy, Rukia can sense that and will put a stop to it somehow. I could see that happening. Some interesting things thrown in there. He is yeah, Giselle's got a Zombie with some power on her side. For now it seems to be less worrisome.

Silver crow; Thanks very much! Yeah, he helped train them a little. Maybe they will do~ Rukia's got that knowledge alright~ Karin got too heated. Yup, Yuzu and Nanao are going to face off. I wont be focusing on Ganju's stuff, it's the same as canon. Yeah, they will be eventually. Yeah, he held back because he didn't want to kill Renji, or hurt Rukia by hurting her friend, but knew he'd have to do something and he did. We'll be seeing more of Momo in the future. Yachiru's just so much fun~ Yeah, it seems that he has a good rapport with Nemu, Yachiru, and even Hanataro. Not this chapter, but he's going to be meeting a Kenpachi this chapter. Yeah, Giselle's making them Zombies~ Being Headmaster of the academy would be cool for Jushiro. We'll delve into that in the future. I don't think Takumi would allow Orihime to be put in danger after realizing her abilities, he would know Aizen would find them interesting. She could do that yeah, it would be good~ Haha yeah~ Sounds great to me! Maybe she will yeah. I could see that happening. I'd say Nanao's more skilled in Kido but Takumi's got more power behind his Kido. I had heard of Genbu, she seems interesting. Yeah, the Fallen Angel idea looks great. Yeah, he could fight them both, it would be a highly difficult battle. Maybe he could have made some, and yeah that looks great. They might do in the future. Heh, that would be great for Aura.

Guest 2; I'm gonna be honest, I haven't watched much of Jojo's, and only know a few things about it. But once I do watch the series, I'll know if I do a story on it or not. Thanks for the suggestions!

Andrew123456; Actually I have thought about doing a story on Last Airbender, I do like Azula, she's my second favourite female after Ty Lee though the difference between my like for them isn't that much so I do like both of them quite a lot. That would be pretty cool, and yeah, blue flames are pretty cool, I do like how Azula's are like that.

a fan; A Star Wars story huh. I haven't really thought about it, I like most of the movies, some of the new ones are...ehehe, yeah. So yeah, I'd probably be up for a story about Star Wars, just need an idea about it.

Guest 3; Yeah, I do like Future Diary, so I might do a story for it in the future. Being partners with her is quite interesting to say the least, it would be quite a good partnership. That kind of dynamic between the oc and Tsubaki would be rather interesting to explore, thanks for the suggestions.

Guest 4; Yeah, Fates a good series, I've not watched all of it before, but I know enough about the characters you're talking about to understand who they are, so yeah, it looks like a good idea to me! Thanks for the suggestion!

Well, with those lovely reviews out of the way, it's time to start the chapter!

---

The maidens growth!

Yuzu and Nanao faced off against one another.

Their eyes locked, while Yuzu felt nervous about this, since it was her first fight, she didn't want to mess it up. She didn't want to lose either, but knew that it was a possibility due to how the situation was turning out.

Her first fight, without Karin to back her up. Without Takumi to save her. Without Giselle to help protect her.

She was completely alone.

She felt her hand trembling slightly, while Nanao herself expressed a slight concern on her face.

"E-Erm, perhaps instead of fighting, we could sit down and have some tea to discuss our problems or something…?"

Yuzu tried to deflect from the situation at hand.

Nanao could see the girls obvious nervousness.

"Have you...never done this before?"

Yuzu waved her hands in front of her face.

"N-No, I have done this before!" Yuzu denied Nanao's worries. "I just...ehehe, fighting Hollows, and Shinigami are different things...you know?"

Nanao nodded slowly.

"I can understand that. This is my first time in facing a Quincy."

"Hehe, I see...then I guess I'll try my best to make this as good as I can...though this is going to be a battle...I'll try my best to make it as good as I can!"

Nanao gave curious looks at the young woman.

Yuzu's stance wasn't so bad.

It was a stance that was above a novice level stance, so the fight wouldn't be over so quickly either.

But she was also intrigued on how she was going to deal with the fights ahead.

Tensions filled the air.

Neither made a move for over a minute.

A bead of sweat rolled down Yuzu's cheek, while Nanao didn't make a move, in case that was Yuzu's thoughts, leading her into a trap, which Nanao didn't want, she didn't want to be trapped by Yuzu, nor did she want to fall for any traps.

Yuzu herself was in a worrying situation.

She always thought about fighting enemies like this.

But now that she was, she couldn't deny that she was slightly worried about what was happening.

"Come on Yuzu, you have to do something. Her spiritual power is high, perhaps it is above mine. However, Karin is fighting right now...Takumi-kun is also fighting. I can also fight. It isn't always about who is strongest. I can still stand in this woman's presence, so our powers can't be that far from each other. I remember Takumi-kun's lessons about fights between enemies here, is a fight between spiritual powers, but also can be about a tactical fight, and who can outsmart the opponent. I shall use my knowledge that I have acquired from Takumi-kun, how Giselle-san taught me, and also how Karin would act...yes, I wont lose here. I still have to meet up with Karin and the others. She's counting on me to survive, so I'll survive until then."

Having made up her mind, Yuzu exhaled slowly, while Nanao raised an eyebrow, seeing a small change within Yuzu.

Yuzu was the first to make a move, pulling back her bow, and fired off an arrow for the young woman. Nanao used flash step to avoid the arrow, which stabbed into the wall, only for Yuzu to appear behind her, with an arrow pointed towards her, shooting it off in a single burst.

"You are quite quick. But not quick enough to beat me."

Nanao stuck out her hand, and summoned a barrier, blocking the arrow all together to the astonishment of Yuzu.

"You...blocked my arrow..."

Yuzu looked on as Nanao remained collected, and confident.

"Yes, that is correct. It will take more than that to shoot me down."

Yuzu bowed her head.

"I see...then I shall have to take it up a notch!"

Nanao raised an eyebrow, seeing Yuzu channelling her powers.

The arrow began to grow, but also split apart, which caused Nanao to raise an eyebrow.

"Five arrow burst!"

Yuzu announced, and fired off five arrows at once, surprising Nanao who kept up her barrier, but with each arrow hitting it in a five attack style, the arrows shook the barrier slightly, Nanao narrowing her eyes at the sight.

"Though she split them up in five sets, the power behind them didn't lose much from her single arrow shot. It seems that she isn't so weak, and the lack of confidence that she displayed before is slowly disappearing. I guess she is fighting it down to keep herself going."

Nanao watched as more and more five arrows shot came at the barrier, and didn't seem to let up either, hitting the barrier, and causing it to shake more and more, until a crack appeared within the barrier.

Yuzu saw the crack, and concentrated her fire there, shooting all five arrows at that crack, opening it up enough for Yuzu to fire an arrow off through the hole towards Nanao's body, who widened her eyes slightly, but she used her flash step to avoid the attack.

She turned her hand towards the location she thought Yuzu was in, while readying a Shakkaho to fire off…

When she saw that Yuzu wasn't there.

Nanao seemed more surprised by the second, but then heard a noise behind her, turning to see Yuzu already firing off an arrow towards her in a single shot that travelled rather quickly, so Nanao shot off her Shakkaho, clashing with the arrow, and forced it to be destroyed by the power of her Kido, continuing her attack right for Yuzu's body, who gasped, and dodged out of the way.

"Hado 4: Byakurai."

Nanao extended her fingers, shooting off the pale lightning blast towards the rolling Yuzu, who grimaced at the sight, and seemingly the lightning blast hit against Yuzu's body, creating an explosion around her.

Nanao bowed her head.

"I am sorry. But I also needed too..."

Nanao saw the smoke clearing, and that there were a fence of arrows before Yuzu's body, acting as a shield from Nanao's Kido spell.

It immensely surprised Nanao that Yuzu managed to use her arrows in such a way.

"Seeing a pure Quincy in action...to think she was able to make a makeshift shield out of arrows. She's good. She's very good. She's smart, and I am sure that she's got some more tricks up her sleeve."

"I said before, I am not done yet Nanao Ise-san!"

Nanao was impressed with Yuzu's resolve, and couldn't deny that it was rather interesting to see what Yuzu was going to do next.

"I see, then allow me to take it up a notch."

Nanao said it seriously, increasing her energies around her body, while Yuzu also did the same thing, ready to continue their fight.

---

Once escaping the streets of the Shinigami world, Takumi, Hanataro, Nemu, and Yachiru ended up in the sewer system of all places. Walking across a quite large pathway with the sludge water flowing right next to him.

"It was a good idea to stay down here."

"Though it smells Taku!"

Yachiru complained about the situation at hand, even Takumi had to agree about the smell being bad.

But Nemu seemed completely okay with it, as if she didn't even care that the smell was entering her nostrils.

"S-Sorry about that...but, since we in Squad Four only know about these tunnels...I thought it would be the best way to move around..."

"No, no. it was a great idea Hanataro-san." Hanataro smiled slightly at the praise. "But, if I may ask...why is it only Squad Four know of these tunnels? Is it because you need to know how to avoid battle and get people to safety in case of attacks like this?"

Hanataro scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Actually, that makes it sound better than the actual reason."

Takumi raised an eyebrow.

"So, what's the actual reason then?"

Hanataro looked on with a sheepish smile, when Nemu explained.

"Squad Four is tasked with keeping the system down here as clean as possible. So, they would have knowledge of these passageways."

Takumi sweat dropped.

"Oh...so, you're like janitors."

"Hehehehe...it sounds like we are only there to clean up messes."

"But, you're also, the medics, right?"

Hanataro nodded.

"Y-Yes that's right. Though right now I'm only seventh seat..."

"Hey, seventh seat isn't that bad." Takumi replied to gain a curious look from Hanataro. "It means that you're the at least seventh best medic in the entire squad, right?"

Hanataro thought about what Takumi had said, and it made sense.

He was the seventh best one in the squad, that made him feel a little better about his current position.

"I...I've never thought about it that way...y-yes, that's right! Though I am aiming for sixth seat!"

"I'm sure you'll be able to do it." Takumi encouraged to the bewilderment of Hanataro. "Now, we have a few things to discuss, and make decisions about."

"Is it about Ken-chan Taku?"

Takumi gave a slight nod.

"Yes, he also is apart of this." Yachiru beamed. "First of all, I need to find the others. Preferably starting with Orihime-chan. Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan are going to be able to keep themselves safe, Karin-chan is very powerful in her own right, and Yuzu-chan's smart, she will be able to help Karin-chan in those areas, and make plans. As for Giselle-san...she'll be able to keep herself safe. But, if someone finds Orihime-chan first, then she could be in danger. I know she's with Yoruichi-chan, but it's dangerous leaving them alone for the moment."

"So, our objective is to find Orihime Inoue Takumi-sama?"

Takumi nodded.

"Yes. After that, we'll have to make a decision about going towards either Captain Kyoraku, or Captain Unohana. Though I'm more leaning towards Captain Kyoraku...speaking of, Nemu-chan, could you inform me about what's the current state of the Shinigami's forces as you know them."

"Of course."

Nemu then began explaining while Takumi got into deep thought.

Yachiru looked at Hanataro, and saw his meek expressions.

"Don't worry, Ken-chan isn't interested in fighting you."

"Hehehe...I-I don't want to fight Ken-chan...eeh! C-Captain Zaraki! Please don't tell him I called him Ken-chan!"

Yachiru gave a mischievous smile on her lips, while Hanataro panicked.

Nemu then finished what she was speaking about to Takumi.

"...And that is the current state as I am aware Takumi-sama."

"I see, so Captain Kyoraku actually did send the request...it just confirms for me that he's definitely on side."

"E-Excuse me...b-before, you said that you were going to save Rukia-san...and also...that there's something going on in the Soul Society...something bad...c-could I ask what that is sir…?"

Hanataro bravely (for him) asked about the situation, Takumi furrowed his eyebrows.

"Since you've decided to help, then I don't see why I shouldn't say anything since you're also risking your life, you deserve to know. To boil it down, there is at least one person in the Soul Society planning something bad for the Soul Society, and human world. We're not sure what yet...but, we need to be careful about every move we make. The enemies aren't idiots, so we have to one up them at every chance that we get."

"I-I see...so, saving Rukia-san also saves the Soul Society?"

Hanataro thought it would be like that.

But when Takumi looked towards him, he wasn't so sure by the expression on Takumi's face, the unsure look within his eyes.

"I can't answer yes or no to that question. Because honestly, I am not sure how involved Rukia-chan is with this, if she is apart of this man's plans, or a mere distraction for us." Takumi replied truthfully to the astonishment of Hanataro. "However, I wont allow Rukia-chan to die. But we have to remember who we're dealing with. That old man Yamamoto guy is very powerful, I sensed his pressure. He even would make the traitor nervous so he wouldn't act so quickly, then there's the other Captains, going all out might cause losses on both our and their side, and we can't lose anyone here. We also have to discern who is working with him."

"O-Other traitors?"

Nemu this time nodded.

"Takumi-sama, I am not fully aware of who else is with the traitor you speak of. However, I am confident that you are correct about there being more than one. No single person can pull this off. However, who could be with him?"

"There are a few possibilities, even people we might not suspect either. But, we still have to continue on. So, shall we go and find Orihime-chan everyone?"

They agreed, besides Yachiru who showed an unsure pout.

"But Taku...Ken-chan..."

"Hehe, don't worry, I haven't forgotten. If we run into him, I'll definitely fight him, okay?"

Yachiru thrusts her fists up to the air.

"Alright then Taku! Lets get going!"

Takumi gave a slight smile as she hopped onto his shoulder, and then they began walking forward, following where Takumi felt Orihime's spiritual pressure coming from.

---

Having arrived at the area that Takumi and the others had been, Mayuri looked annoyed.

Takumi wasn't there anymore, and only Renji laid on the ground, unconscious from his assault from Takumi's attacks.

Kenpachi also had arrived, unwillingly going with Mayuri after their little argument from before, and sensing the pressure clashing of Takumi with Renji.

"Damn it!" Kenpachi snapped, slamming his foot down onto the tiles, smashing some apart. "Because of you clown, I couldn't fight Takumi Urahara!"

"Is that all you think about idiot?" Mayuri gave a condescending look towards Kenpachi. "Never mind that he's beaten someone else, and now has moved away. If you hadn't of distracted me, then I could have been killing that boy as we speak. But no, I'm stuck with an idiot that lost that annoying pink haired brat to the enemy. At least I treat the people below me as pawns, it makes it much easier for when they die."

Kenpachi's long eye went towards Mayuri.

He badmouthed Yachiru….and he wouldn't allow that to happen.

His spiritual pressure increased, moving closer to Mayuri who thought about where Takumi and the others could have gone, unaware that Nemu was giving them assistance right now.

"Did you just say something about Yachiru?"

Mayuri's eyes snapped upon Kenpachi, and saw his blade resting well in his hand.

Swallowing the saliva he didn't know he was holding, Mayuri's eyes snapped back upon Kenpachi.

"Don't even try anything with me. I'm not in the mood for your games."

Kenpachi didn't look pleased with what Mayuri had said.

"Well, get in the mood. Better yet, how about I do everyone a favour and shut your annoying little mouth permanently?"

Mayuri could feel the killing intent rolling off of Kenpachi.

It wasn't a joke.

Even someone like Mayuri had to admit he felt a little shaken by the power that was being released.

"Hmph, if you tried, then you'd be punished for it. Raising arms against another member of the Gotei 13. Are you that insane that you'd actually attempt to do something like that?"

Kenpachi leaned forward and went to say something, when a groan came from Renji.

Moving quickly, Mayuri moved to the left hand side of Renji, and bent down towards him.

His eyes went into Renji's who kept slipping in and out of consciousness it seemed.

"You, red headed boy. Tell me, which direction did Takumi go in?"

Renji groaned, looking between Kenpachi and Mayuri.

"I...I don't know..."

"Don't fool around with me boy!" Mayuri snapped, grabbing Renji's torn blood soaked shirt. "I am not amused at all! Tell me where he went, right now!"

"I...I said...I don't know..."

Mayuri let out an annoyed breath.

"Seriously, are you trying to protect him now?"

"Why would he bother when he's lost in battle?"

Kenpachi demanded, while Mayuri just gave him a glare without answering.

Kenpachi rolled his single eye, looking around the area for any sign of Yachiru.

"Yachiru….you're with that boy, aren't you? Keeping track of him...heh, don't worry Yachiru, I'll soon be there, so I can finally have a fight with Takumi Urahara."

Kenpachi already had decided what he needed to do, so he took off, leaving behind a bewildered Mayuri.

"Where is he off to? The freaky bastard."

Mayuri shook his head, and looked towards Renji.

Thoughts about what to do with him flew through his mind.

He thought about killing him.

Renji to him wasn't really a threat, but he also got annoyed by Renji.

So he took out a blade, beginning to move closer towards Renji to finish him off…

"Renji-kun! Renji-kun!"

Izuru called out, as he came running in with some Squad Four medics. Mayuri scowled, and took off, looking for Takumi himself.

---

Meanwhile, Orihime and Yoruichi had managed to escape a group of Shinigami attempting to fight them, by going towards a large building and staying on top of it.

Orihime releases a small breath out of her mouth, turning towards the direction that Takumi was in.

"It seems calmer now...Taku-chan's spiritual pressure has returned to normal."

"You can sense the fight has stopped?"

Orihime nodded, placing a hand over her heart, and got a deep expression on her face.

"I can't explain it...but, I can always feel when Taku-chan is fighting, or relaxing...it's grown stronger since my powers were released back in the human world."

"It's because you love him."

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Orihime let out a cute cry, waving her hands dramatically in front of her face. "W-What are you saying Yoruichi-chan?!"

Yoruichi gained a calm expression on her kitty face.

"I didn't mean to blind side you. But it's true, you're able to sense his spiritual pressure due to your emotions for Takumi. I'm sure he's the same with you. Knowing him, he'll probably be on his way towards us right now."

Orihime wondered if that was true.

What Takumi was doing right now.

But she sensed that he was okay.

He wasn't killed, he wasn't in distress…

She was glad about that.

"Hey, Yoruichi-chan, should we try and go to Taku-chan's location?"

Orihime suggested, believing that would be the best course of action right now.

Yoruichi thought about it for a few moments, before nodding her head in agreement.

"It couldn't hurt, we should really meet up with everyone else. And Takumi would be the most logical choice at the moment. Say, how about using the device of Takumi's to contact him with?"

Orihime giggled awkwardly, and showed the device, seeing that it wasn't working.

"I-It broke during impact."

Yoruichi sweat dropped.

"Of course it did, that would make this too easy. Either way, we should really begin moving. I can sense strong pressures running around, like that Zaraki, we need to avoid him as much as we can, and if he comes close, we need to run away."

Orihime nodded, dusting off her clothes, and pointed towards the direction she felt Takumi.

"Then we should go that way!"

Yoruichi looked towards the location that Orihime was pointing…

But then she felt a spike in pressure towards Orihime, turning to see a large man was behind her, with his Zanpakuto stood there, about to swing his sword downwards towards her, Yoruichi quickly used her speed to slam against the man's body, his eyes popping out of his head, and sent him flying across the roof they were on, nearly tumbling over to the tiled section of the roof.

Orihime gasps, looking towards the location of the man himself, seeing that he looked winded from Yoruichi's attack, the man glancing at the cat, before looking towards Orihime.

"That's one fast cat you've got. But it wont save you, you wont live for much longer."

Orihime pulled backwards, while Yoruichi thought about the situation.

"If memory serves, this is Jirobo, the brother of Jidanbo. His spiritual power wouldn't be a problem for people such as Karin or Takumi. But for Inoue...should I transform to fight this opponent? To keep her safe, that's what I have to..." Yoruichi's thoughts were interrupted when she saw Orihime moving forward. "H-Hey, what are you doing?"

Orihime, despite feeling a little worried, knew what she would have to do.

"Thank you very much for saving me, I didn't even see him until the last second...but, it comes down to me, Yoruichi-chan."

"But, I could simply take him down..."

When she said that, Orihime noticed that a number of Shinigami had come and were beginning to make their way towards them.

"But we already have a Shinigami problem down there, Yoruichi-chan." Orihime countered, surprising Yoruichi by her boldness. "I know what I have to do Yoruichi-chan...I know that I am not as powerful as the others, but I have to also pull my own weight...I can't wait to be rescued, and I also need to fight...I need to also get strong to stand beside Taku-chan, I can't burden anyone with me around."

"Inoue..."

Yoruichi was strangely proud of the girl.

It seemed that despite knowing it would be tough for her, she also thought about the others, and how strong potential enemies could be, and that she would have to fight, as Yoruichi already had a number of enemies to deal with.

Of course the enemies wouldn't prove much trouble for Yoruichi, but Orihime wished to prove her strength, and fight the enemy before her, she didn't want to be a burden, she wished to fight beside the others. Even if she wasn't as strong, she wanted to be strong.

"Please take care of the other opponents Yoruichi-chan, I will find a way to win."

Yoruichi looked down at the enemies coming up. They were some foot soldiers, but she also could see that they were coming in good waves. It seemed that Jirobo had brought them along with him, and knew Orihime wouldn't be able to fight off all of them, they didn't have a chance to run either.

"...I see, then I will take care of them, I'll leave this man to you."

Yoruichi placed her trust within Orihime, and jumped down to deal with the coming forces, while Orihime looked towards Jirobo, seeing that his face was curling upwards into a smirking one, something that she didn't like to see.

"Hahaha! So, your cat left you alone! And you're going to fight me? With what exactly!?"

"I'll fight you with my powers!"

Orihime stated boldly, recalling how Tatsuki also fought despite being outmatched by the Hollow back in the human world.

"I see. Then I'll give you to the count of ten to run away!"

Orihime watched as the behemoth began counting down from ten.

She knew her powers couldn't take down Lieutenant's or Captains, but she could feel this man's power was close to Jidanbo's, and that she could fight this enemy as hard as she could.

---

Elsewhere, Momo came rushing towards the location that Renji was in, and could see some Squad Four fixing up some of Renji's wounds. She also saw Izuru stood nearby, looking on towards his worried friend.

"Hinamori, what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sit back and wait for whatever was happening here. I needed to come and see if I could help."

"I see...Squad Four are taking care of it. But thanks for coming, I appreciate it."

Momo slowly nodded, looking around the battlefield, seeing the damage to the ground, and the walls. To her, it felt like he had gone through quite the battle, and if that was the case, then she was pleased that he was alive at least.

"Izuru-kun, did you see who did this? Was it, Takumi Urahara-san?"

Izuru hung his head downwards.

"I don't know, but who else could it have been…? I should have been here, I should have noticed the signs...like you did..."

Momo gave a sympathetic look towards Izuru, and saw Renji's wounds having been bandaged already.

"Amazing, Squad Four already managed to get Renji-san this far along..."

"No, he was already bandaged up by the time we got here."

Momo wore surprise on her face.

"He was? Then if he was fighting Takumi Urahara-san…."

"He probably did it...this is crazy. Why would an enemy do that? Beat Renji...then he would wrap his wounds?"

Momo also wondered that.

She began to think that the rumours about Takumi weren't right at all.

Someone that was a ruthless killer wouldn't try and help someone they had attacked.

It just didn't make sense to her.

She also remembered what Takumi had said to her during their brief meeting.

About how there could be something wrong with the Soul Society.

"What he said back then...what did he mean? He must know something...and the fact that he spared Renji-sans life...he truly must either be doing this to throw us off, or he genuinely wishes to help people out...I don't know which is the true one, but I want to say that the true one is that he does care about others feelings, and doesn't want anyone to die."

As Momo thought about it, she was interrupted in her thoughts by Byakuya. The man stood there with a calm expression on his face, his eyes going towards Renji while Momo and Izuru both give him curious looks back.

"What happened here?"

He spoke in that soft tone that Byakuya was known for.

That sent shivers down their spines, Izuru however stepped forward and spoke.

"We believe that he had an encounter with one of the Ryoka, possibly Takumi Urahara."

Byakuya's eyes slit for a brief second.

But then returned to normal, sending a cold look to Renji.

"And what he doing stationed here?" Neither Momo nor Izuru could answer. "Then he came here of his own accord, and lost to the Ryoka. Throw him in a cell. Defeat is not an option once more, I do not have a use for a fool like Renji."

Momo couldn't believe what he was saying.

His own Captain seemed to turn on him.

"But Captain, his wounds..."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow at her, so Izuru cut into the conversation, bowing his head.

"I'm sorry Captain Kuchiki, she's just worried about our friend. Please forgive her."

Momo didn't really see what she had done wrong, but she bowed her head in apology.

"I...I am sorry for speaking out of term."

Byakuya blankly stares at them, before having Renji moved by some members of the squad he brought he with him. Momo felt worried, as although Renji had his injuries treated, he wasn't out of the woods yet, and still needed to receive some care.

After Byakuya leaves, seemingly from the shadows, Gin comes forward, putting a hand to his chin.

"My oh my, what a bloody scene. Seems like Abarai had a hard battle here."

"C-Captain Ichimaru! I didn't know you were there..."

Gin lets off a creepy grin that looked like a snakes ready to attack, moving forward.

"So sorry for keeping myself hidden. Captain Kuchiki is a scary man, I didn't want to incur his wrath either." Gin pulls forward towards them both, glancing at Momo's worried face. "Do not worry, I will make sure that the Fourth Division finish off with recovering Abarai from his injuries. Now Kira-kun, come with me, there's a few things we need to do."

"Yes, Captain."

Izuru bows his head, and begins walking off with Gin.

"Thank you Captain Ichimaru."

Momo spoke while bowing her head, Gin shows a small smile as he disappears with Izuru.

But then, Momo felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Iyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Momo screams out loud, becoming a shivering mess as a result. "Takumi-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Momo assumed it was, remembering when he had done that last time. But then she turned, she saw it was just Toshiro. "Shiro-chan! Don't sneak up on me like that! I thought it was Takumi-san again!"

Momo felt her heart racing in her chest, while trying to calm down.

"Hinamori, what a reaction."

"W-Well, I've had a few people touch my shoulder recently, it gave me a fright, that's all!" Momo pointed at her with tilting eyes. "How do you Captains do that anyway?"

"Do what?"

Momo sweat dropped.

"E-Either way, why are you here?" Momo glanced around, and saw that Rangiku wasn't with Toshiro. "And where is Rangiku-san anyway?"

"I heard about the commotion and came to check out the situation, and just saw Abarai's wounds. It seemed that he suffered a hard battle. But, I didn't come specifically for that. I also came to warn you Hinamori."

"Warn me…? About what?"

Momo wondered, while Toshiro bows her neck.

"Be careful."

"O-Of Takumi-san?"

Toshiro, to her surprise, shook her head.

"No...not of him. I think he's the least of our problems right now. Be careful, of Gin Ichimaru."

Momo's eyes widening, recalling Takumi also telling her about the situation of the Soul Society briefly, and how it was dangerous…

---

"Yuzu! Yuzu!"

Karin yelled, running through the streets of the Seireitei, looking for Yuzu.

She wasn't that good at sensing, so it was more on a basis that she was hoping she was going in the direction that Yuzu would be in.

But as minutes rolled by, she was becoming increasingly concerned that Yuzu was going to be caught, or killed, and she couldn't have that happen, no matter what else was going to happen.

She exhaled slowly, placing a hand over her heart.

"Yuzu...I don't know where you are..."

Karin exhaled slowly, and rather than run around, she jumped onto a building, running up it quickly, and looked around the highish building.

She looked left and right, and despite now having great sensing abilities, she did feel clashes of spiritual energy.

"What do I do…?" She asked herself, placing a worried hand over her mouth. "What would that idiot Takumi would do…? He'd be able to sense the way that she would be...but I can't do that...come on, what can I do…? What can I….no, I need to start thinking."

Karin began thinking about what she could do to save her sister.

To find her.

Even though she was a Quincy, she still was her sister so she worried…

But then some realization came over her.

"Ooh yeah! Spirit ribbons! Takumi once taught me about them...Shinigami's are red, and humans are white...Yuzu, Inoue and Giselle are the only humans here...so one in three chances I'd be able to find Yuzu…okay, I need to concentrate. I remember...closing my eyes, and concentrating, feeling the ribbons around me...yes, I can do this..."

Karin closed her eyes, and concentrated.

Focusing on what she had learned.

She knew that she might not have the sensing abilities of the others, but she had to do something to save her sister, anything to help her out.

Concentration wrote itself across her face, exhaling deeply out of her nose.

For a minute or so, nothing seemed to happen, and Karin was growing with her frustrations.

But then she heard a voice.

"Hey Karin, trying to find Yuzu huh?"

It was in her inner Hollow once more, Karin's face contorted to worry.

"I-I don't have time for you...I need to find Yuzu..."

She replied aloud, trying to banish the Hollow from her mind.

"Hehe, I know that. Hey, if you ask nicely, I'll give you a hint."

"For a price no doubt."

"No, I'll give you this one for free."

Karin raised an eyebrow.

"And why would you do that exactly?"

"Call it the goodness of my heart. Besides, if it leads to more fights, I'm all for that."

"So you can take me over, right?"

Karin demanded, while the Hollow laughed deep within her mind.

"Perhaps. Anyway, the hint is, your mind is working too much. You keep thinking about different possibilities, you need to clear your mind. Forget about anything else around you, just sense, don't think. That's the trick to it."

Karin didn't like taking advice from her Hollow, but she thought that it would be for the best right now to help out the young girl.

So that's what she did.

She cleared her mind while trying her best not to think about the situation at hand.

Inhaling and exhaling at a two second interval, Karin's mind slowly began to clear, until she felt something brush her hand.

Opening her eyes, she saw different ribbons around her, mostly red ones fluttering in the wind.

"These must be the spirit ribbons...heh, I did it..."

"What do you say?"

Karin grimaced at her inner Hollow's playful voice.

"...Thanks."

"Good girl. Now go and find a fight. I'm itching for one."

Karin lowered her eyes, looking for any white ribbon.

But she was drawn towards the left, so she looked that way, and saw a single white ribbon fluttering around in the wind, so she reached for it, grabbing it tightly, and it felt like a pulse went through it, it felt as if she was right next to Yuzu.

"This is it! Don't worry Yuzu, I'm coming!"

Karin took off in the direction she hoped Yuzu would be in, hopping between the buildings as fast as she could.

---

Yuzu continued her fight with Nanao, who was watching with calm eyes, but she did feel as if Yuzu did have some talent, she was able to throw up a wall with her arrows, and was getting quite speedy. It wasn't Captain Level, nor would it be Lieutenant Level, but it still was a rather fast enemy that Nanao was dealing with.

Yuzu then walked forward, and pulled back her arrows, summoning a good deal of arrows from her bow, firing them at Nanao in several intervals at once, Nanao knowing that Yuzu was quite smart, so it wouldn't be her only plan.

So rather than try and shoot them down, Nanao placed her hands together.

"Would you like to tell you something?"

Nanao asked, while Yuzu's arrows neared her.

"W-What?"

"When I was in the Shinigami academy, the area I excelled in, was the usage of Kido. I got my Lieutenant's rank based solely on my Kido expertise."

Yuzu looked slightly worried as Nanao's energy came towards her hands.

"K-Kido expertise alone? Not your Zanpakuto?"

"Truth be told, I couldn't imprint on an Asauchi."

"S-So you don't have a Zanpakuto like Takumi-kun and the others?"

Nanao revealed a small smile.

"No, I do have one."

Yuzu seemed more confused than before.

"But, if you couldn't imprint...then how do you have one?"

"That's a family secret." Nanao released a pulse from her body, the spirit energy forced some of the arrows away from her body. "Only a few people in the Seireitei know the truth behind my Zanpakuto, and one of them, used to be Takumi-kun."

Yuzu's eyes widened slightly.

"T-Takumi-kun? So...you were friends?"

"Something like that. Now, allow me to show you a rapid fire version of the spell Byakurai."

Yuzu gulped at the sound of that.

"R-Rapid fire...ooh no..."

"I am sorry, but I am going to have to put a stop to you."

Nanao extended several of her fingers, and unleashed Byakurai's in three second intervals for Yuzu's body. Gasping, Yuzu dashed towards the right hand side, avoiding the first lightning blast, only for the second to come right for her body, so she quickly pushed off the ground with her feet, avoiding the second blast.

Nanao's fingers aimed for the sky, shooting off a third bolt of lightning for the young girl. Yuzu felt panic entering her heart, seeing the pale bolt of lightning heading for her system, so rather than take it, she charged up her arrow as much as she could, and fired it off for the incoming bolt of electricity, smashing against it, and created an explosion.

Nanao saw the smoke rise between them, blanketing the area, so even she couldn't see that well.

But she could sense Yuzu's presence, so she aimed her finger in that direction, and announced her Kido spell while drawing in the air with her fingers, a trail of yellow energy followed after her, drawing an inverted triangle with three smaller triangles at the corners.

"Bakudo 30: Shitotsu Sansen."

Announcing that the smaller triangles shot off through the smoke, and she heard it hit something, then it piercing a nearby wall.

Nanao bowed her head, while walking through the smoke towards what she assumed to be a pinned Yuzu.

"I am sorry that it had to end this way, but there was simply no..." As Nanao got through the smoke, she saw that in fact, it wasn't Yuzu that was pinned, nothing was pinned at all. "...w-what, how did she...but, I felt her presence..." Nanao's eyes widened when she felt a spike towards her left, turning to see Yuzu's presence, a semi large arrow in hand, and fired it off at a high speed for the young nearly unsuspecting woman. "Aaaah!"

Nanao cried out as she threw up a barrier, but it wasn't enough to block the entire power, and some of the energy rebounded back onto her, forcing her body to skid across the ground, while Yuzu panted a little.

"H-How about that?"

Nanao looked at her hand, and saw that she was bleeding a little bit.

She wasn't used to bleeding, she hadn't really ever bled before, and she could feel her heart rate increasing.

"H-How did you…?"

Nanao had to ask what the heck had just happened, Yuzu managed to trick her somehow.

Because of the thoughts of blood roaming her mind, it wasn't coming to her how Yuzu had done that.

Yuzu didn't reply, but she thought about the technique to herself.

"It was a technique that Giselle-san taught me. Gathering the nearby Reishi, and infusing some of my own into it, it can fool senses to believing that it is them, that's how Ise-san got tricked just then, I'm glad I learned how to do that, it came in handy. Thank you Giselle-san. It allowed me to stop getting captured. But this woman is tough, I'm not sure I can beat her with my powers, but I will survive as long as I can Karin...I'll do my best to win."

Yuzu released small pants as Nanao continued panicking about her damaged hand.

Twitching her fingers around, Nanao exhaled slowly, trying to regain her composure.

Remembering what she had to do for her Captain, and how she couldn't lose this fight, Nanao summoned inner strength that she didn't know that she was capable of using, and pressed forward.

"I have to admit...your technique is great. You make up for the lack of destructive power for the technique you possess, I am of a similar nature. But, because of that, I will have to end this fight now, so forgive me."

Yuzu backed away slowly while Nanao continued pressing forward towards her, seemingly ready to strike at her.

Nanao thrusted out her finger.

"Bakudo 1: Sai."

Yuzu's hands suddenly were locked behind her arms, as Nanao unleashed a Shakkaho towards Yuzu's body. Yuzu fought against the Sai binds, eventually being able to break out of them, and attempt to dodge the Shakkaho that Nanao unleashed, only for the energy to hit her side, and sent her spinning into a nearby wall, making her cry out.

Nanao bowed her neck, as she waved out her fingers.

"Bakudo 63: Sajo Sabaku."

Yuzu, suffering from the attack before, suddenly saw energy chains coming for her, so she flashed backwards, but the chains followed after her at a high speed, forcing her to fire off a few arrows to try and divert them away from her.

However, the chains thickness managed to break through Yuzu's arrows, and came closer and closer for her body.

But as Yuzu was going to be caught Karin came swinging in with her sword, unleashing her energy towards Nanao who gasped, and used her Kido to form a shield to tank the energy blast that Karin had used, but Nanao noticed the barrier had cracked in several places, showcasing the power of Karin, while Karin's sword also managed to cleave right through the chains that Nanao had unleashed.

"Yuzu! Are you alright?!"

"Y-Yes, I'm okay Karin!"

Karin looked relieved, freeing Yuzu from her binds, and turned towards Nanao with her sword extended outwards.

"Alright, that's enough, attacking my sister like that, did you think you'd be able to get away with it?"

Nanao furrowed her eyebrows.

"Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up."

"Of course I'd show up. Now you've got two on one."

Nanao furrowed her eyebrows, and went to answer, when they all heard fireworks exploding in the sky.

Nanao sharpened her eyes, feeling for Yumichika's energy, and felt it being on the low side, along with Ganju who was running around.

She then released a relieved breath.

"Okay, now it seems that we can talk."

"T-Talk? About what?"

Yuzu wondered as Nanao allowed a simple calm expression to appear.

"While Madarame-san and Ayasegawa-san were still around and fighting, I couldn't say anything in case they came back and overheard it or felt us not fighting which would lead to trouble for us both. But now it seems that they have been defeated, I can say what my true objective was when coming out here."

"And, what is this true objective exactly?"

Karin raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"It's to take you to my Captain." Karin and Yuzu stand side by side with their weapons on the ready. "It's not what you think. I don't want to harm you."

"You could have fooled me."

Karin said while extending her finger out.

"I understand how it must look, but for the sake of attempting to keep it secret, I had to pretend to fight while the others could still sense me. But now that they have been incapacitated, please come with me."

"I still don't know. How can we trust you?"

Yuzu brought up to Karin's relief that it wasn't just her feeling like this.

"My Captain said that this might happen, so look at this."

Nanao pulled out a picture, and showed it to both Karin and Yuzu.

It was a picture of a clearly younger Takumi, sitting on Shunsui's left shoulder, giving the peace sign towards the camera, while Nanao as a young girl sat on the right one, looking really embarrassed. The picture seemed to be quite old as well, but well preserved.

"That's...Takumi-kun."

"Yeah...damn, he was a cute kid, what happened?" Yuzu lightly jabbed Karin in the torso. "O-Ow, I was kidding."

Nanao gave a raised eyebrow, before exhaling slowly.

"That picture should prove it. My Captain and I, are on Takumi-kun's side. We never believed he truly could be capable of what has been said about him, and as we go deeper into this mystery...we're afraid that this is bigger than us, it involves the entire Soul Society, and also, possibly the people responsible, also framed Takumi-kun for a crime he didn't commit, and we wish to prove that. But we need to work together, my Captain might be being watched, so I was instructed to come and get you. Please follow me, it is important that we leave before anyone else comes."

Karin pulls Yuzu to the side, and converses with her, while watching Nanao carefully.

"You fought her, what do you think about her?"

"Honestly...she kinda scares me. But...when I see her speaking about Takumi-kun, it seems genuine. And if this is bigger than us, I think we should work together. Also, I think that she's right about us working together, if we can also help Takumi-kun...he must know about this man as well, so most likely, Takumi-kun will be going there. So we could get there and meet up."

"...Alright, I'll trust you, but lets keep our guard up just in case."

"I agree."

Yuzu finished, and walked back to Nanao, Karin folding her arms.

"Alright, we'll go with you. But we're watching you."

Nanao bowed her head.

"Okay then. Should we go and retrieve your friend?"

"Our friend?"

Karin seemed confused, while Yuzu giggles awkwardly.

"She's talking about Ganju-san."

Karin's eyes widen.

"Ooh crap! I forgot about Ganju! We better go and get him just in case he's...lets just go and get him."

Yuzu giggles nervously, wondering how Karin managed to forget about Ganju, but agreed nonetheless and decided to go and find him.

---

Back with Takumi and the others, they continued going through the sewer system together, at a good pace. Not too fast, so they could conserve energy for any fight that they would be coming up against in the future.

"Hey Taku! Tell us something good, okay?"

"Hmmm? Like what Yachiru-san?"

"I don't know~ Something fun!"

"Eeeh...something fun huh….erm, well I once fought something called an Arrancar. That was a pretty fun experience, I got to see something amazing."

Nemu raised her brows as Hanataro looked clueless.

"Arra...Arrancar? What's that Taku?"

"It's basically, a Hollow with Shinigami powers. That's how I had it explained to me anyway."

"Ooh! That seems interesting! I'm sure Ken-chan would love to fight someone with those powers!"

"Haha, I'm sure that he would."

"I-It seems that you've had quite the time being a Shinigami..."

Hanataro added, Takumi nodding slowly.

"I guess that I have yeah. Been quite a wild ride. From fighting Hollows, to exploding Quincy's, to Arrancar's, and now Shinigami's."

"Taku's life sounds really fun!"

Takumi chuckled at Yachiru's childlike nature.

"It's quite fun yes~ Though right now, I'm more focused on finding Rukia-chan and helping out the others."

"Hehehe, Taku's quite kind~ I like Taku~"

"I like you too Yachiru-san!"

Yachiru giddily swayed on Takumi's shoulder.

But as they moved forward, Takumi also felt something else with her.

A clash of her, and someone else's spiritual pressure.

"Shit...she's in a battle."

"A battle? You can tell?"

Hanataro was surprised that he could, when he couldn't tell at all.

"Yes...it's difficult to explain, but I can feel Orihime-chan being in distress right now. We need to pick it up."

"You heard the man!" Yachiru announced to Nemu and Hanataro. "We need to go faster, so double time everyone! Taku is like the Captain of the Taku Squad, I'm Lieutenant! Boobies, you can be Third Seat!"

"Ah, thank you very much Lieutenant. It would be my honour to be Third Seat of the Taku Squad."

Takumi gave Nemu a curious look while Hanataro pointed to himself.

"M-Me? What am I Lieutenant?"

"Erm….Tenth Seat!"

"B-But I'm Seventh Seat in Squad Four!"

Hanataro argued back, but Yachiru was absolute with what she wanted.

"But, if we get more members who are stronger for the Taku Squad, then I want room for them~ The Lieutenant has spoken!"

Hanataro began letting out small cries, so Takumi spoke up.

"Hanataro-san, you can be Third Seat with Nemu-san."

"Ooh thank you very much Urahara-san! You're very kind! Something I never thought I'd say!"

Takumi gave a bemused look, but then showed a serious face.

"With that out of the way, lets get going."

"B-But, I can't run as fast as you guys!"

Hanataro complained, when Nemu stoically grabbed the young man and hauled him over her shoulder, and began to run.

"There, you can be in my arms."

"T-That's not really a great solution! A-Also, if we go this way, then we'll be going through a populated area of the Soul Society's Squad 11's favourite hang outs! Isn't that dangerous Urahara-san?!"

"Is there an alternative route?"

Takumi asked while leaping over a body of sludge water to get to the other side.

"W-Well, yes but it would take several hours..."

Hanataro replied as Nemu did the same thing as Takumi, running right behind him.

"We don't have several hours. Even if it is populated, Orihime-chan's in danger, I don't have time to be cautious about this. We'll just have to go through them if necessary. Don't worry Hanataro-san, you just keep behind us."

"Y-Yes...though I'm sorry..."

Takumi raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you sorry?"

Takumi didn't get what he was apologizing for exactly, it just didn't make sense to him.

"I...I'm leaving all of the fighting to you, and the others...I feel useless...I want to save Rukia-san as well, but I feel as if I'm dragging the others down..."

Takumi gained a soft look to his face, addressing Hanataro with that same soft, kind expression.

"There's different ways people can help during situations like this. Guides, fighters, healers, all important. I don't know my way around here, so without you guys, I'd be completely lost, beyond following Orihime-chan's pressure. In fact, I'd say healers are the most important thing on a battlefield."

"Y-Yes?"

"Yes, because if the healers go down, then so do the fighters eventually. Healers also save the lives of those who have fought tough battles. Don't count yourself short Hanataro-san, you are helping out. Leave the fighting to people like me, I'll leave the healing to you."

Nemu saw Hanataro's face curl upwards.

"Y-Yes! I will do my best!"

"Haha, that's good, I'll be counting on you."

Hanataro felt warm inside of his chest.

It felt good to hear kindness like this.

Usually, he didn't hear anything about his usefulness from anyone.

But Takumi was counting on him to be their healer, so he couldn't let anyone down.

"Y-Yes, leave it to me Urahara-san!"

"Just call me Takumi, or Taku which seems to be the norm now."

Hanataro nodded strongly.

"Yes, Takumi-san!"

Takumi gave a soft gaze, and then continued dashing through the area with the others.

---

Back with Orihime, she watched as Jirobo kept his eyes on her form, and she thought about how she was going to combat this enemy before her.

"Nine...eight..."

The man known as Jirobo continued the countdown.

Knowing he was dangerous, Orihime tilted her head, and thought about what Takumi would do in this kind of situation.

Imagining Takumi stood there, with sword in hand, an 'I Love Inventing' shirt on, and a cute expression on his face while holding a glowing box in the other hand.

"Hey enemy, I will put a stop to you and protect my loved ones~ Perhaps it will be this new super cool invention that I have made~?"

Imagining Takumi using a cutesy voice, Orihime smiled at the thought of Takumi doing that.

"Ooh, if I could invent something to get out of here, then that would be good..."

Orihime mumbled, Jirobo thought "Is she talking to me?" but then he growled, continuing the countdown, until he got to the end.

"I've reached the end of the line little girl. Your time to regret is over, I'll have to finish you off now."

Orihime's face became serious, seeing how he was holding onto his blade. He then came at her swiftly, so she dodged to the side, the blade slicing into the building before her, and she paused for a few moments.

Hurting someone isn't something she liked, even her enemy.

But she knew that she would have to do something against the enemy.

The enemy Jirobo turned towards her, and gave a disgusting smirk on his lips.

"You dodged my attack. But looking at you, there's no killing intent behind your eyes. You can't beat me without wanting to kill me."

Orihime's eyes lowered.

She knew he was right.

She couldn't bring herself to kill someone.

A Hollow was different, a Shinigami enemy, she thought about their family, their friends, among other things like that.

"In the end...I can't do it...Taku-chan, I don't know how you do it...fighting someone...fighting with the intent to take their lives...to...to beat someone like that..."

Orihime wallowed in her thoughts, while the Shinigami came closer towards her.

"Looks like you've given up. Alright then girl, if that's how you wish to play it, I'll fight you and kill you without much pain."

Orihime berated herself again and again as Jirobo came closer.

Running at a decent speed, his sword aimed true for her upper body while Orihime clutches her hands.

She thought about what Takumi would do, and how she could do it…

But then she remembered something about the time that they were in the human world, just before coming to the Soul Society, about the topic of fighting enemies.

---

With the training having come to an end that day for invading the Soul Society, Orihime strolled over to a sweating Takumi who panted several times, brushing his forehead of his sweat, before Orihime sat down beside him, showcasing an unsure look on her face.

"Orihime-chan, is something wrong?"

"Actually...I've been thinking about something Taku-chan."

Takumi raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? What's that?"

"It's about...can I ask you something?" Takumi nodded. "How do you fight enemies? Not Hollows...but enemies like that Shinigami you fought? Weren't you...worried?"

"Worried about fighting him? Or worried about something else?"

He could see that there was some doubt within Orihime, and hoped to coax it out of her.

"I'm just worried about...what if, at the time of being in the Soul Society, I freeze when fighting an enemy? I...I don't want to kill people Taku-chan...it must seem cowardly of me to say that...but, when I think about it, I think about the person and their families and..."

"You're a very kind woman Orihime-chan." Takumi soothed. "Even I find it difficult when thinking about it like that. And there is an answer to not killing someone."

Orihime became intrigued.

"What's that?"

"You disable them."

It seemed so simple, but to Orihime it was mind blowing.

"Disabling them…?"

"Yeah. Killing isn't in everyone, and it shouldn't have to be either. People like you Orihime-chan, you're so kind and gentle, I wouldn't ever ask you to kill anyone. When I fight, I fight to protect rather than hurt."

"Protect...rather than hurt."

Takumi showed a bright smile.

"Right, that's how I fight when I have to. I think about who I need to protect, whether that be myself, or other people. If it comes down to it...I don't want to kill, but if it means keeping innocents safe, then I can do it. But I can also understand why you couldn't, and that's okay, killing is the last resort, if all other options have been exhausted, that's how I see it anyway."

Orihime gained a bright smile, and lightly kissed Takumi on the cheek.

"Thank you, Taku-chan. Yes...I know what I have to do. I'll fight to protect, and disable my enemy, and I think you're right...killing should only be the last resort. But, even if Taku-chan does have to kill...I know that you're a very loving person and I'll always be here to support you."

"Me too, I'll always be in your corner Orihime-chan, supporting you."

Orihime's cheeks flushed while his hand overlaid with her own…

---

Coming out of the memory, Orihime locked eyes with the enemy, and spoke up.

"Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily. Santen Kesshun, I reject."

Orihime's triangular shield came out before her, blocking the sword swing of the enemy, the man's eyes widening in surprise.

"A shield...what a strange power you have." His eyes ran over Orihime, seeing a change within her. "What's changed? Before, you looked almost defeated, but now you look almost resolved...no, not almost. Your resolve to fight has grown even more. Yet I sense no killing intent. I don't understand girl, what has happened?"

Orihime pulled forward, tightening her hands.

"My killing intent hasn't changed, I do not wish to kill you."

"If that's the case, then you're not going to be able to fight me! Do you get it!? You need killing intent!"

Orihime shook her head.

"There's another way."

"Hah, as if little girl!"

Jirobo used his flash step to run around her shield, and come close to her body.

Yoruichi came back from her fight after defeating the enemies quite easily, and went to take on Jirobo...but stopped when seeing the determination on Orihime's face, so she kept back, and watched what Orihime was going to do.

Orihime looked at the man's hand, and then towards her hairpins, announcing "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun, I reject!" and allowed Tsubaki to come out, shooting like an arrow for the man's hand, slicing across the hand and blood gushed out like a geyser.

"Aaaaaaaaaah! W-What the hell happened to not wanting to kill?!"

Orihime stayed calm as she faced down the Shinigami.

"I don't want to kill you, but I wont stand back and be a victim either. Disabling is different to killing. Taku-chan told me that...so, I will stop you!"

Jirobo, seeing more of the resolve within her eyes, backed away slightly.

But then his eyes tightened on her form.

"As if I am going to lose to you girl! You've stepped onto a battlefield! Speaking about not killing your enemy, it doesn't even make sense! You have to slay your enemy with all of your power! If you don't, then they're going to slay you! So die!"

The man rushed forward towards her at a high speed, so Orihime summoned her shield, and blocked several strikes from him, forcing her body backwards ever so slightly, but she kept her ground, and refused to move.

"Sorry, but I wont die! Tsubaki!"

She then summoned Tsubaki, and had him shoot for his shoulder, Jirobo was forced to jump backwards, but Orihime thought of what she could do, so she ordered "Cut through the roof on his side!" to Tsubaki, which he smirked at, nodding and cut right through half of the roof, Jirobo's eyes widening, seeing Tsubaki doing just that.

"W-What the hell are you doing!?"

The roof part he was standing on, began crumbling down under the intense cutting power of Tsubaki.

"I am trying to win the fight, I'm sorry if you get hurt!"

She apologized as the building continued to come down from his side of the building, leaving Orihime's side relatively safe.

Jirobo, seeing the state of the building, was forced to jump towards her, when Orihime had her shield fly forward like a battering ram, slamming against the man's body and sent him backwards while she used her hands to direct the shield itself, and the speed increased as the shield pushed the man away from Orihime's body.

"Stop!"

She ordered the shield, which it complied, forcing Jirobo's body to fly backwards at the intense speed that Saten Kesshun was going beforehand, sending him hurdling right down to the ground, smashing right through a roof of a nearby building, dropping him further and further into the building itself.

Orihime grimaced at the sight of Jirobo flying through a building like that.

But she thought that perhaps the fight would be over now, and released a small pant.

"Thank you Taku-chan, you were right, I did my best and was able to defeat my enemy without killing them."

Orihime panted from her battle with Jirobo, and thought that would be the end.

She was wrong, and Yoruichi knew as much, so watched what was going to happen next.

A minute later, as Orihime had managed to catch her breath, Jirobo came shooting out of the roof she was standing on, uprooting it, and caused Orihime to take a tumble, heading for the edge of the roof they were.

"Iyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"As if I would lose to you girl!"

Jirobo saw Orihime rolling to the edge of the building, so he took off running so he could take her down himself.

Orihime thought about what she should do as she unwillingly rolled off the side of the building, then she saw another building a small distance away, so rather than allow Jirobo the tactical advantage if she pulled herself up on the building she currently was on, she changed tactics, and rolled off the building herself.

"What is she doing? She can't fly..."

Jirobo thought that Orihime was mad.

Yoruichi grit her teeth, and was about to move to help her...

But then she saw that she had summoned her shield midair, and used it as a platform, jumping from the shield, to the nearby building unharmed, Jirobo's eyes turning to anger, while Yoruichi thought "Clever use of your shield Inoue." and nodded proudly at Orihime's quick thinking.

Landing on the building, Orihime lost her footing, and fell on her front, panting at the feeling of what she had just done.

But she didn't have long as Jirobo came shooting down towards her with sword in hand, so she summoned her shield, blocking off the sword swing, then summoned Tsubaki, sending him at Jirobo's shoulder once more, but he dodged it quite expertly, but Orihime jumped to her feet, remembering the training Tatsuki had given her, and delivered a swift kick to Jirobo's upper body where she had wounded him before, hitting so hard that he was forced backwards.

"Aah...f-for a human, you are quite annoying."

"I-I can't quit yet!"

Orihime announced, as the man chuckled.

"Funny, it seems that we both use projectile weapons."

Orihime drew a clueless face.

"Projectiles?"

"That's right. Here, I'll show you." He places his hand at the tip of his sword. "Flap Away, Tsunzakigarasu!"

Thrusting his hand down the blade, they turned into countless flying curved blades that danced around him.

Orihime's eyes transfixed on the blades themselves, and wondered how she was going to get out of this one.

"The true form of my Zanpakuto. I'm called wind scythe because of the speed and mastery of projectile weapons. No one has ever seen my blades and lived to tell the tale of them. Sorry little girl, but you're not going to be able to beat me."

Orihime pulled backwards, and thought about what she would do…

No, she thought about what Takumi would do.

If she used a shield, then they might have a chance to get around the shield, and survive the attack all together.

If she used Tsubaki, then some might get through.

Even if she used both together, some might still get through.

So she had to do something against them.

"Taku-chan, you'd think of something….you'd know what to do...I can't let you down Taku-chan. I can get out of this...I just have to think like Taku-chan...how would he get out of this situation…? He'd do something...he'd probably attempt to slash them down at once with a wide range attack...but I can't do that...but maybe I can do something, something that Hiyori-san thought I could do...I could try it here but..."

Orihime thought about it as Jirobo continued to boast about his abilities being better than Orihime's.

Orihime ignored him, and continued thinking of ways to get through and fight off the enemy as much as she could.

"Don't worry Orihime, we will support you."

One of her spirits spoke to her, as her face turned upwards.

"Yeah, we'll stand beside you."

"Anything you need."

More and more support came to her, and she couldn't help but be relieved.

Then she realized what she might be able to do.

"Now, enough of this, it is time to perish!"

He went to move his hand to force the curved blades to attack Orihime, when Orihime announced "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun! I reject!" and thrust the spirit outwards, at the same time, she sent out her other spirits secretly.

However, what surprised Jirobo was rather than attack with Tsubaki, Tsubaki flew around in the air, both in front and behind her, above her, all around her, creating what seemed to be a net of Koten Zanshun's power, something that she put all her power to keep around, and as the flying curved blades hit the net, they began to be broken down due to the left behind energy of Orihime's attack. It wasn't as strong as Orihime's direct attack. But it was enough for the bladed attacks themselves.

Yoruichi continued watching Orihime taking on Jirobo using inventive ways, and wondered how much Takumi had influenced Orihime, it definitely would be something Takumi would do, and in turn, it seemed Orihime followed example, and created a move all her own to combat difficult enemies.

Orihime on the other hand, was quite pleased, seeing the flying blades being torn asunder by her technique.

"I remember Taku-chan using a skill called Lightning Field in his fight with Tier-san, where the area was able to stop different attacks and damage at the same time like a net, this is like that. Though it doesn't seem to last long, the residual energy that Tsubaki is leaving behind to create the net of energy is dissipating, so I need to act quickly, I'm also becoming increasingly tired. But I wont give up, Taku-chan wouldn't give up, and neither will I. I'll have to thank Hiyori-san for helping me use Tsubaki like this...I'm glad it seems to be working."

While she thought it, Jirobo was in disbelief.

His blades were being destroyed by Orihime's attack.

He couldn't get through what was happening, Orihime's move became quite incredible.

"W-What are you girl!? What is that strange technique!?"

"I...I am following Taku-chan's way of thinking!"

"W-Who's Taku-chan?!"

Orihime smiled brightly.

"He's the man I love. Now, Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily. Saten Kesshun, I reject."

As she said it, a shield that she sent out before of Saten Kesshun slammed behind him, propelling his body forward with the shield forever behind him, pushing him forward towards her body.

"W-Wait! You're going to cut me down?!"

"Please forgive me!"

"N-No! It can't end!"

Jirobo yelled, and brought his remaining blades back to his handle, as Orihime while panting prepared Tsubaki.

"Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun! I reject!"

Orihime sent off her spirit towards Jirobo, but not with the intent to kill.

No, this was the intent to disable, which also fuelled her convictions, allowing Tsubaki's power to grow more and more.

Yoruichi watched on as the spirit came closer and closer to Jirobo.

"It seems, despite being an innocent girl, she can fight when she knows it wont lead to death, and I think it's better this way, at least for right now. She might not be able to take on Captains, or Lieutenant's, but she's growing stronger, and she's coming up with some interesting techniques. I thought that I'd have to step in...but she proved me wrong, she can do it. I'm sure you'd be proud to see her Takumi, she's really coming into her own."

As Yoruichi thought it, Jirobo swings his blade outwards, but because of the cut Orihime dealt to him before, his hand was unsteady as Orihime's attack came full force, slicing against the blade of Jirobo's.

"N-No! It can't end here! I can't lose to you!"

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Orihime poured her energy into the attack, allowing it to increase, and therefore, sliced right through the blade, and cut deeply into the man's body while Orihime held sadness on her face.

Even if she had disabled him, she didn't like hurting people.

She knew though that sometimes, it was necessary and this time it was necessary.

But she had used quite a bit of energy, so she collapsed onto the ground, while Jirobo fell down, unconscious from Orihime's attack.

"I...I did it...Taku-chan..."

Orihime continued to pant as Yoruichi landed on the roof.

"Inoue, you managed to win against him."

"Y-Yes...I remembered, what Taku-chan said. I don't...I don't have to kill my opponents, I can disable them. I know sometimes...you have to kill your enemy, even Taku-chan said that...but if at all possible, I don't want to do that, only when it comes down to the last resort."

"Heh...yes, that you can. I think that's the best way for you to fight, Inoue, I'm sure Takumi would say the same, and I am sure he'll be proud that you won, like I am."

Orihime smiled softly, glad that she managed to win the fight as she did.

---

After his fight with Ganju, Yumichika was licking his wounds. Though he was stronger than Ganju, Ganju managed to outsmart him, and use fireworks to his advantage, so now he had a hairstyle that stuck his hair upwards, something that he didn't particularly like.

However, while he was attempting to make sense of what had just happened, stepping out of the shadows, was Giselle.

"Hello there."

"Aaah!" Yumichika jumped at the voice, turning to see Giselle with her hands behind her back. "Y-You, who are you?"

"My name is Giselle."

"Oh...what do you want Giselle? Though you are quite cute, don't look at me, I'm not perfect right now."

Giselle showed a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Yes, I'm sure that you're feeling weird since you lost to Ganju."

"I did not lose to him! He caught me off guard! Ugly bastard, trying to stand in the light of true beauty!"

Giselle continued to smile, pulling forward.

"What's your name?"

"...Yumichika, why?"

"Ooh, so you're Yumichika then? Hehe, I think I have a friend of yours~"

Giselle snapped her fingers, and from the shadows, Ikkaku stepped out, with a vacant look on his face, and a reddish hue to his skin, his eyes white without pupils. Yumichika's eyes widened in pure shock.

"W-What the hell Ikkaku?! What's happened to you!?"

"Ooh, so his name is Ikkaku? Hehe, he didn't tell me before I turned him into my Zombie."

Yumichika felt scared when she said that.

"Z-Zombie…? Y-You turned him into a Zombie…?"

Giselle twirled her hair.

"Just for a little while, that's all."

"But, you can't...I-Ikkaku! Can you hear me!?"

"He can't hear you."

She replied while thumbing her long hair.

"Y-You..." He withdrew his blade as Giselle giggled slightly. "I will fight you!"

"But, you're in no state to fight me. Don't worry, it wont be for long. Just until we don't need your services anymore, alright? I treat my Zombie's with kindness and love~ Just ask Zombie Ikkaku, and Zombie Chizuru who seems to have developed something of her own back there~ You'll love being a Zombie."

Yumichika felt his heart race, pulling backwards across the street while still on the ground.

But then his back hit something, so he looked up, seeing more Zombified members of the Gotei 13, their eyes looking down at him.

"N-No! Stay away from me! Don't come closer!"

"Awwww...grab him."

The Zombie's nodded and grabbed Yumichika's body, as he struggled. Ikkaku also pounced on him, holding him down.

"No! Leave me alone! Don't do this!"

"Sorry, but you have to join my group now." Giselle got closer, placing a hand on his face, as he cringed. "Shhh, don't worry, you'll do, Zombie Yumichika~"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

Yumichika screamed as Giselle did what she needed to do, turning Yumichika into her Zombie.

---

Meanwhile, Takumi and the others finally came to a ladder, Takumi glanced at Hanataro who nodded.

"This will bring us the closest to the pressure you're wanting to go to Takumi-san."

"Great, then we get up there, and get Orihime-chan and attempt to find the others. I can feel a few pressures up here, but we should be able to speed blitz them, they don't seem higher than normal Shinigami from what I can tell."

"Agreed, we should be able to bypass them quickly enough Takumi-sama."

Takumi nodded in agreement to what was being said.

"Yay, lets do this quickly!"

Yachiru cheered out, so Takumi lifted up the manhole cover, and quickly got out of the sewer, along with Yachiru on his shoulder, Nemu and Hanataro followed suit.

Takumi looked around a corner, and saw a bunch of Shinigami stood there, so he turned to the others.

"Nemu-san, you and I can speed these guys quickly, they wont know what's happened."

"Yes, I agree Takumi-sama. I shall back you up."

Takumi bowed his head, and before they could think, he dashed forward, using his hands to incapacitate them at breakneck speeds, the same for Nemu who followed behind, twirling around as she delivered many kicks to the enemies faces, forcing them into nearby walls, and breaking them down all together.

They were shell shocked, and because of the speed, they couldn't predict what was going to happen next.

They couldn't get passed the fast moving blurs, and ended up being taken down by a combination of Takumi, and Nemu.

Appearing on the other side, Takumi looked at the downed Shinigami, murmuring "Sorry." and then looked to the others.

"She's not that far from here, lets go."

The others nodded, and shot off for the location of Orihime.

They ran quickly, and managed to cover a good amount of distance.

However, Takumi felt as if something was behind him.

It felt like a Demon was slowly worming its way around his neck, and he was being strangled.

"This feeling...I know it all too well. From the last time we met..."

Takumi believed he knew what this was.

He just hoped that they'd be able to get away from it before it could catch him, and the others.

He glanced at the others, but saw that they looked normal, they didn't seem to figure out what was happening.

But Takumi just knew that this wasn't going to end well.

Nemu also noticed a chance within Takumi, raising an eyebrow.

"Takumi-sama, is something wrong?"

Takumi honestly didn't know how to answer that.

"I don't know yet...something is coming. I can sense it...I don't know why...but I can feel it, a Demon is coming..."

Hanataro gulped.

"A-A Demon!? W-What kind of Demon?!"

"A Demon that wishes for violence, one that wishes to fight. But, how did he find..."

Takumi didn't have an answer right now.

Though he had some ideas about how it happened.

His eyes went around the area, and saw a large white tower in the distance.

"Don't worry Rukia-chan, I'll be there soon. I just have a few things I need to do. Wait for me."

Takumi vowed within himself to get to Rukia quickly.

Even with all of this going on, he still wasn't going to leave Rukia behind no matter what came up against him.

Even if it was the so-called Demon Takumi thought was tailing them.

They came to a section of tall buildings surrounding them, they shot right through it.

But as they did, Takumi suddenly felt something wrap around him.

As if the stench of death hung in the air, a monster was coiling around his very being, threatening to take him whole.

He also noticed something else.

Hanataro began to sway side to side, while Nemu felt sweat coming to her forehead, even she felt it now.

Yachiru on the other hand was super excited about what was happening.

"Ooh my, he's finally found us! Taku, he's here!"

Takumi exhaled slowly, seeing Hanataro's eyes widening in shock, worry, and also fear.

As if the power had been drained out of him, Hanataro began falling forward, so Takumi caught the young man in his arms.

"Hanataro-san..."

He looked down at Hanataro, who couldn't speak.

He was white as a ghost, and for good reason as well.

"The spiritual pressure around here was too much for him to handle."

Takumi silently nodded at Nemu, knowing she was speaking the truth.

"As I was checking out some low time enemies battle, I happened to come across you, Takumi Urahara! Thinking you can escape me!"

Takumi gulped, feeling the presence above him.

Daring his eyes upwards, he caught the sight of Kenpachi stood on top of the building, his lone eye wandering down towards them.

"Ooooh! Ken-chan's here! Hi Ken-chan! I stayed with Taku to make sure he fights you! He said he really wants to fight you and become best friends!"

Takumi didn't recall ever saying he wanted to become best friends with Kenpachi, or that he was really wanting to fight him. All he recalled was that he would fight if he had to fight.

"I see, I had wondered why you wandered off again Yachiru. You did well."

Yachiru thrusts her hand to the sky, as Kenpachi jumps down towards them.

His mere presence nearly knocked Hanataro out, Nemu stayed relatively calm, and Takumi had slightly heavy eyes.

"Yes!" Yachiru turned to Takumi. "Taku, you said you'd fight him. You will, wont you?"

Takumi looked at Kenpachi who seemed to be an unmovable wall.

Then he looked at Hanataro who was either passed out, or close to it, Takumi couldn't honestly tell.

"Yes, I will Yachiru-san."

"Yay! I knew you'd keep your word Taku!"

Nemu, having heard what Takumi had said, raised an unsure eyebrow.

"Takumi-sama, he is Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, very blood thirsty, very deadly. He wont simply allow you to leave with your life if he can help it. He has decided you are his enemy, and as his enemy, he wishes to see your power, and to receive his own."

For Nemu, Takumi could hear the concern within her voice.

He was touched by her worry.

Even however minor others would think it is, Takumi knew different and knew she was worried for him, like he was for her, and the others.

He then looked towards Nemu.

"Nemu-san, I'm sorry to ask this, but can you take Hanataro-san and go towards Orihime-chan?"

Nemu was surprised that he had said something like that which was rare for Nemu since she wasn't one to surprise so easily.

"Takumi-sama, this man is very powerful. Do you believe you can win?"

Takumi honestly didn't know the answer to that.

"I don't know, even from here he seems like a monster. But, he's not going to let me go either way. So, I'll have to do something against him. And I don't want either of you to be caught up in it. Go towards Orihime-chan, I'll try and join you as soon as I can, and if not...then make sure that Orihime-chan is safe, as are the others, okay Nemu-san?"

Nemu bowed her head.

"Yes, Takumi-sama. As they say, good luck."

She hauled Hanataro over her shoulder, and shot out of the area.

Kenpachi didn't even attempt to stop them, he just watched them go.

Then he turned back to Takumi who slowly placed his hand on his sword.

"So, you're not going to attempt to run away?"

Takumi shook his head.

"Made a promise to Yachiru-san that I'd fight you as soon as we met up. Unfortunately, it happened sooner than I had planned. But, I am alright with that, Captain Zaraki."

Kenpachi showed a murderous expression on his face.

"And here I thought checking on some fights happening around here would be a waste of my time. Here you are, Takumi. I've been waiting for this fight."

Takumi looked at Yachiru who kept perched on his shoulder.

"Yachiru-san, you get to a safe distance, okay?"

"Ooh, Taku and Ken-chan are going serious from the start! Yay for Taku and Ken-chan! They're going to have the best fight! Don't worry Taku, I'll keep out of your and Ken-chan's ways! Ken-chan's so excited right now, he's tingling!"

"Haha, I see. Thank you Yachiru-san for helping me this far."

"No problem~ I'm Taku's Lieutenant of the Taku Squad after all~"

Takumi gave a soft smile while Kenpachi showed a question mark above his head.

"Yes, you're right. Now, Lieutenant Yachiru of the Taku Squad, your job is to watch over our fight and make sure it is just between me and Kenpachi-san, okay?"

Yachiru gave a cute salute.

"Yes sir! Leave it to me!"

Acting serious (as much as someone like Yachiru could) she hopped off of Takumi's shoulder, scaling a building, and then she laid down on her stomach, looking downwards over the two of them down below.

Kenpachi raised an eyebrow.

"It seems that she's taken a liking to you."

"We have a special kind of rapport with each other it seems."

Kenpachi cracked his neck, before his gleefully sadistic smile spread across his scarred face.

"Hahaha! I'm glad! It just means we'll have an amazing battle! You don't know how long I've waited to fight you! The rumours of you have been whispered into my ear again and again, and now coming face to face with you, it seems that you're ready to fight me!"

"I am, and I don't intend to lose Kenpachi-san."

Kenpachi continued to show his sadistic smile.

"That's good, then show me what you've got. I'll even let you have the first strike."

"You might come to regret that."

"Lets see, shall we?"

Kenpachi's murderous aura sprang around him, while Takumi focused his eyes on the man before him.

He might have felt like a Demon, but he still had a human body, and for Takumi, that meant he'd be able to go down.

The question was...could Takumi defeat Kenpachi in a fight?

---

End chapter!

So Orihime and Yuzu got their spotlight this chapter, Yuzu held off well against Nanao, and managed to come up with some plans to detain her, even showing her fine control over Reishi, but in the end, Nanao was able to hold her own, and then Karin came to help out, but then Nanao once seeing that Yumichika got defeated (it happened the same in canon with Ganju) she explained the situation to the sisters, and after seeing a picture of her, Takumi and Shunsui, they decided to go with her, though are still cautious of her.

Orihime also stepped up, and managed to fight off Jirobo with everything that she could, and while she couldn't fight off a Lieutenant, she's still growing stronger, even Yoruichi thought that she did quite well, and despite being there, she didn't have to step in, showing some growth from Orihime, even using a new skill she worked on with Hiyori during the training period after witnessing Takumi do something similar.

At the same time, Takumi, Nemu, Hanataro, and Yachiru are making plans for what they need to do next, but that was interrupted by the untimely arrival of Kenpachi Zaraki who's challenged Takumi to a fight which is happening earlier than when it happened in the canon for reasons we'll see in the coming chapters, and as he agreed with Yachiru, he's going to be fighting Kenpachi next chapter!

Meanwhile, Momo's got growing suspicions about a few things along with Toshiro, Mayuri's more determined than ever to get Takumi, and Giselle's gaining some temporary Zombie partners (Takumi will be able to turn them back after this arc) to help her and the others.

So, until next time, thanks for reading!

Takumi; Orihime, Rukia, Yuzu, Karin, Nemu, Giselle, Liltotto, Momo, Soi Fon, Yoruichi, Hiyori, Nelliel, Tier, Rangiku, Toshiro (fem), Nanao.