Welcome back everybody to another chapter of Ballad of the Strawberry!
Previously we were found out that Tatsuki was a Shinigami (Hinted at the end of Chapter 11 before the Omake), and we also find out Rukia has run away. How will Ichigo take the news of Rukia running away, only to be caught by more Shinigami, and what will happen with Tatsuki now that she's a Shinigami? Find out next time on Ballad of the Strawberry!
Now, onto out feature presentation!
"Call him Rukia. Bring us the human so we can kill him for what he did to you." The grin on Renji's face ever resembling a certain Taichou. He was in that squad for a while after all. Rukia was panicking. She had told Ichigo to stay away but they might just kill her if she didn't call him. Damn, why did things have to be so difficult. Again she cursed her own pride which had led to this situation.
"Know this and know this well Rukia. That strike you evaded, I let you dodge it." Renji grinned ferally as Rukia balked in response. "Still no response? I guess I'll have to get serious with you!" Renji lifted his arm to swing down and strike Rukia but a flash of blue and Renji had to dodge. A bright blue arrow whizzed past his face, narrowly missing its mark.
"An armed man going to strike a defenseless girl? How low of you Shinigami." Uryu stepped out of the shadows and approached the scene, he had a bag with the logo for some seamstress shop.
"What are you doing here! Leave before he kills you!" Uryu merely pushed up his glasses, they gleamed in the pale moonlight as a breeze started to pick up.
"Just who the hell are you!" Renji all but demanded. Uryu let his lips slowly curl into a semi-smile.
"Just a friend in Kuchiki-san's class who hates Shinigami."" Renji grit his teeth, this human was starting to get on his nerves, and what was with that large bow in his hand?
"Why are you here Uryu? Don't do anything stupid!" Was that a smirk she could see behind Ishida's eyes?
"As if Kuchiki-san. I'm not as hot headed as my fellow classmates. I simply was passing by after needing to purchase some more sewing supplies. When passing by I found you being attacked and decided to help out a fellow classmate. I can't stand such brutish behavior in the supposed defenders of the living world." Rukia blanched. Did he really expect them to accept that response? He was smarter than that, or was he stalling? What was his motive? Rukia let out a sigh.
The bag fell to the ground.
"Stop saying shit four-eyes! I'll repeat what I asked, who the hell are you?" Uryu stared at the Shinigami with defiance. "Won't answer? Fine, I'll just kill you then." Renji made to move but Rukia stood in his way.
"Don't! He has nothing to do with this, let him go." Before Renji could say anything Uryu stepped forward and in front of Rukia.
"I don't where you could be confused. I'm just a classmate of Kuchiki-san and I hate Shinigami." Renji snarled while Byakuya stood as stoic as ever.
"I don't care about any of that!" Renji was starting to get pissed off at the human. He'd make this fast.
"Well, when you put it that way, my name is Ishida Uryu. Pleasure to meet you." This wasn't right. Renji was about to kill this boy and now he was extending pleasantries? What kind of backwards world had the living world become?
"Why are you sharing your name all of a sudden? What happened to that tough guy attitude you had before?" Uryu simply adjusted his glasses reflecting the moonlight.
"I figured I should at least share my name because, even if you are Shinigami, you'll want the name of the one who's going to kill you." The hot-headed Shinigami grinned widely,
"I've decided that I'm going to kill you too kid." Uryu didn't last two seconds. One second he was standing and the next he was bleeding on the ground. The cross held on his wrist was covered in the quincy's blood. "Not so tough now boy?" Renji went to grab Rukia but was stopped when a massive blade struck the ground between them.
Eyes wide, Rukia and Renji looked to the source of the blade, both with horridly different reactions.
"You're not taking Rukia anywhere." Orange hair and a scowl set in stone, Ichigo set his eyes on Renji. The one who would take Rukia away.
"A Shinigami? Che." Renji hoisted his blade to rest on his shoulder as he smirked. "So you're the one who stole Rukia's power."
"So what if I am?" Ichigo had to jump back as Renji landed, slamming his blade into the ground creating a crater.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Ichigo was on the defensive as he blocked the onslaught that Renji threw at him. He had to constantly move or lose a limb. Ichigo didn't even have enough time to call forth the Gamer screen to see who exactly he was fighting. Ichigo dodged another strike but this one shoved him back several feet.
"What's with that blade? Is it just for show? It is, isn't it. You don't know the first thing about swordsmanship. Maybe come fight me after 200 years boy!" Renji sent his blade into a sideswipe and it dug into Ichigo's arm. Dropping his blade, Ichigo fell to his knees at the shock and slight blood loss.
Did he just lose? He had seen the state Uryu was in when he arrived on scene. He stood no chance.
Renji smirked as he stepped away, fully confident in Ichigo's death or future death to pay the child any more mind.
"It's game over for you kid. I'm going to kill you and Rukia will get her powers back and Rukia will be executed at the Soul Society." Rukia was torn. All she wanted was to leave and accept her punishment while living Ichigo to live out his life. Why did the fool chase after her? Why did he risk it all after reading her message? She didn't want to be the reason of any more grief.
"I'll go." Renji turned his back to Ichigo to stare at Rukia.
"What did you just say?" She stole herself one glance at the bleeding form of Ichigo.
"I'll go back to Soul Society. I'll cooperate, just, please. Please spare his life! He didn't take my powers by choice!" Rukia was pleading. She was begging. Torn between looking at her brother and her childhood friend.
"You're not going anywhere." Ichigo's voice was strained as he slowly stood up and released a 'Reiatsu Pulse' along with using a move he had been saving. 'Back from the Brink'. His wounds slowly closed as they were covered by a thin, web-like substance. His eyes shone of determination and a promise.
"Rukia, I told you that I didn't subscribe to your commitment, however, I did say something else. Another reason to do your job. Now I'm going to repay you in full for what I've done." Ichigo hefted his blade and vanished.
Renji lost track of Ichigo and flinched when the blade came crashing down to his left. Jumping out of the way, he was immediately hit in the face with the hilt of Ichigo's blade. He was thrown back by the force of the impact but recovered and stood defensively.
"How's that for just-for-show?" Renji growled and swept his hand along the length of his Zanpakuto.
"Howl, Zabimaru!" Ichigo stared weirdly at the now, transformed blade.
"What did you just do?" Renji smirked at the implications of the weapon. He was going to win.
"Every Shinigami's Zanpakuto has the ability to transform. This is a state called the Shikai." Renji proudly spoke. "You do this by calling forth the name of your Zanpakuto."
"Wait, so you name your sword? Now the question is, are you the rule or the exception?" Ichigo grinned as Renji became a sputtering mess allowing Ichigo to rush and subsequently overwhelm the redhead.
Renji was starting to think he might need help. He wouldn't call for it of course. That would mean showing weakness to his Taichou. That he would not allow if he could help it and he was far from out of the fight. Standing back up from the strike, Renji was covered in blood as it dripped down his torn shihakusho. Heaving deep, slow breaths.
"I, Abarai Renji, will not allow you to defeat me, a fukutaichou, without killing me first!" Renji readied his blade as Ichigo rammed him like a bullet. The redhead hit the ground and didn't come back up.
"Guess you just couldn't compare, Abarai Renji," Ichigo smirked at his defeated opponent. "Tonight, I will be the one dealing the definitive strike." Ichigo went to slice off Renji's head as Rukia yelled at him to stop. Then a flash.
Ichigo stared and the remaining half of his blade. Did the Shinigami, no, he's as lost as I am. Then what happened to the sword? Then he remembered the other Shinigami. Shit. Ichigo turned to the other Shinigami and saw the dark-haired man holding the other half of his blade.
"How did you?" He didn't even get to finish his statement as Byakuya suddenly appeared beside the orange-haired teen. Ichigo felt something wrong just now.
"What did you?" Pain. The feeling ripped through Ichigo's body as it exploded with blood. It soaked his shihakusho though. His body landing on the ground with a dull thud.
"You should have killed him swiftly Abarai. He tramples on the very title of Shinigami. Rukia should not have let him live." Renji was shocked. He had barely seen his taichou sheath his blade. That kid probably had no idea what hit him. He actually felt a level of sympathy for the kid, his words. He had owed Rukia a kind of debt and was willing to hunt Hollows in her stead. Perhaps he had misjudged the kid.
Sharing one last solemn look at the kid, Renji grabbed Rukia and approached his Taichou.
"Open a senkaimon Abarai. Our mission is complete." He opened the portal by sliding Zabimaru into the air, half of it vanishing, and turned the blade at a 90-degree angle. A bright flash and the senkaimon.
"Just where do you think you're going?" Ichigo had grabbed Byakuya's hakama. "I'm not going to let you take Rukia away from me. Granted, she's been a pain in the ass since I met her and her drawings suck-" Rukia glowered at Ichigo. "-but she gave me a purpose. A reason to fight. She saved my family. I won't let you tear down everything that we've built together, the friendships we never would have had if she had not been there that night. So if you want to take Rukia away from me, it'll be after I'm de-"
Ichigo was interrupted when Rukia came and kicked his hand away from Byakuya's Hakama. He stared up at the midget in question, betrayal clear. Rukia had seen that face before. It was on the kid. Her eyes softened at the sight and she sent him a pleading look before she schooled her features.
"How dare you touch a Kuchiki's robes. You, a mere human. You deserve to die." She turned on her heel and approached the portal. "Brother. I am ready to go back to serve my punishment."
"Then let us be off. Renji, take point." Ichigo could only watch as they vanished into the portal. A water droplet smacked him in the head. Not long after another and another. It did always rain at the worst of times. Always when bad things happened. The sprinkle turned into a downpour and Ichigo could only lay there in a pool of his own blood as the rain-soaked him. He hated it. Ichigo let a few drops roll down his face, he didn't know if they were rain or tears, they felt the same. It didn't matter though, either described his mood as he was left alone.
A figure stepped out and up to Ichigo's body as he fell into unconsciousness. Piercing brown eyes glared daggers and sympathy at Ichigo.
"What did you get yourself into this time Ichigo? And why didn't you let any of us know you, big idiot?" She picked him up and dragged his body to the only person she knew who could help the orange-haired idiot.
1 Chapter till the Divergence!