Chapter 29: The Awakening

The hollow hissed at the young human girl in front of her. How dare she! "Won't forgive me, you say. What's with you? Where did such confidence come from?" she began to get frustrated. That brat! What's with her eyes? "What are those small things floating around you?"At this Orihime blinked in confusion. "Weren't you aware of them?" the hollow asked her.

"Of course she is aware..." a voice sounded above her head. "of our existence." A pause caused Orihime to look up. "After all, we are the ones closest to her." Orihime watched as one by one these small creatures landed on her shoulders. "Nice to meet you Orihime." A small female spoke ever so gently. "We are the Shun Shun Rikka. We are your power."

They're so tiny. Orihime thought before smiling at the creature. Then as if they're presence finally effected her. They're midgets! Tiny midgets! "Flying midgets are talking to me!" she cried out.

"Oh?" the tiny female creature asked before chuckling. "That's a good response." She then floated in front of her face. "But there's one mistake. We're not flying midgets. I told you. We are your power. We were awakened by outside influences. In other words we are your own self." Orihime suddenly grasped the tiny being. "Ow!" The female creature poked it's head out from between her hands. "Don't try to catch me because you don't understand my explaination! Besides, you're the only one that can see us!"

Orihime looked at her with a look of amazement. "Really?" she inquired.

"At most, only those like the Kurosaki's can see us." she muttered at Orihime, sounding a bit annoyed now.

"Why can they?" Orihime asked, not understanding fully.

The being smiled at her. "Why? You should know, since we were born thanks to them."

Suddenly a black haired being crashed into the the tiny female. "Ah!" Orihime gasped.

"Now's not the time for easy-going self introductions..." the tiny male began to yell. "You damn top knotted captain!"

"Ow! That hurt Tsubaki!" the tiny captain cried out.

"Of course! It was a painful kick! Don't act so timid!" he yelled at her.

Orihime watched the two. The little male had some material over the bottom half of his face that covered his mouth. He also wore all black clothing with a stripe of white on his pants and chest. He would've been adorable if she wasn't a bit leery of him.

"Oi, woman!" he suddenly yelled at her. "You don't need to know who or what we are at this moment. All you need to know is how to use us."

For someone so so small, he sure talks big. she thought before catching what he had just said. "Use you?" she inquired gaining smiles from the tiny little beings.

"Our power is the ability to shield and repel." One yelled eagerly.

"What we need to invoke it, is you mind and the incantation." a larger male stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Incatation?" she inquired suddenly feeling like she was in over her head on this one.

"Oi!" Tsubaki yelled at them. "It's coming!"

"What are you up to..." the hollow asked as it tried to figure out what her next move would be. "little girl!"

"Let's do this Orihime!" the second male yelled. "Call our names! I'm Hinagiku!"

"I am Baigon!" the larger male yelled out as he prepared for battle.

"I am Lily!" the tiny female yelled excitedly.

"Eh? Huh?" Orihime began as she felt overwhelmed.

"It's alright." the tiny captain said as she tried to calm the young girl. "Just repeat after me." She turned towards the others just as the hollow threw another attack at Orihime.

"Hinagiku! Baigon! Lily! Santen Kesshun! I repel thee!" The two yelled together. A large orange colored shield suddenly appeared in front of Orihime, stopping the hollow's attack.

Orihime watched in amazement as the attack never came in contact with her. "Their ability is to repel the outer shield." the captain explained. "A shield is raised between you and your enemy, and they repel the attack you receive." she explained. "Also, both of our abilities are to repel the inner shield." she said as she pointed towards another female with a covering over her head. "In other words we return a subject in the shield to the state they were in before taking damage." She smiled at Orihime. "I'm Shonou. She is Ayame." Orihime nodded before looking at her friends in the courtyard that were mostly unconscious. "Take up the incantation!"

"Shonou! Ayame! Santen Kesshun! I repel thee!" she yelled loudly. A huge shield began to cover multiple unconscious students. Their injuries all vanishing.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki gasped as she watched in amazement as their classmates began to heal.

Orihime looked at her mostly uninjured friend, tears falling down her cheeks. "Tatsuki." she said her friend's name softly as her emotions began to get the best of her.

"No time to cry woman!" Tsubaki yelled at her. "My turn!" He looked at her. "My ability is to repel both sides of the shield. I break through to the enemy, put up a shield inside of them and repel the combined substance. In other words, I split them in two!" Turning towards the squid-like hollow he yelled. "Say it woman. Say my name! Tsubaki!"

"Tsubaki!" she yelled his name as she pointed at the hollow. "Santen Kesshun! I repel thee!" The tiny male rushed forward and vanished from sight before suddenly the hollow exploded from the inside out.

Tatsuki gasped in shock. Her friend had just killed the monster, by herself! " I...did it?" she heard Orihime say before she saw the girl begin to fall.

"Orihime!" she cried out as she ran forward and caught her in an instant. Near her shoulders the tiny beings floated above her friend.

"Oh well." Shonou commented as she looked down upon the young girl with a smile.

"I had a feeling that was going to happen." Tsubaki said. "I figured that using all of us at once would be too much for the first time."

"Is she going to be alright?!" Tatsuki yelled at them.

"She's just tired." Lily told her.

Smiling down to the young girl, Shonou spoke to her, even though she couldn't hear her. "You did great Orihime." she said softly. "For now, we'll return to our form as well."

A pop of light occured, causing Tatsuki to shield her eyes before seeing the two hairpins drop to the ground. Picking them up, Tatsuki smiled before looking at her best friend. Yeah, you did great. Looking off towards the school, Tatsuki frown. Something is inside there. She looked down at her friend. I've got to get her to safety. But her legs felt like lead and she could barely move them. Shit. Now what?

Just then the windows of the entire school building exploded. Tatsuki gasped as she looked up just as the huge shards of glass were about to fall upon them. When suddenly a man with a stripped bucket hat appeared with a sword in his hand. Standing in front of the two girls he cried out. "Nake, Benihime!" An arched energy blast shot out of the sword, hitting the shards of glass and turning them into dust.

Tatsuki looked at the man as he turned towards them. "Who are you?" she asked him when suddenly she felt her energy vanish from her body. As she fell she spotted a large pink haired man standing next to a man with corn rows in his hair.

Urahara looked at the unconscious teens in the courtyard before looking at the two girl's that Hachi was picking up. "Who exactly are these two?" Hachi inquired.

"Ichigo and Verena's friends." Kisuke answered. "Have the others joined the fight?"

"Yes." Hachi answered simply as he looked around for a place to hide the youngsters.

"Inside in safe." He told the pink haired visored. "I cleaned out several low leveled hollows.

"What is causing this?" he asked as Tessai picked up two young men from the ground and followed them inside. Once inside a room he placed the two girls on the floor as Tessai continued down the hall with the other children.

"I have a feeling that this is being caused by Ichigo and his cousin, but it's more than what happened last time this happened between them." Urahara answered when he spotted Verena rush overhead.

Hachi sensed Verena's spiritual power from over head. "Hmm..." he saw her flashstep off away from the school.

"Urahara!" Mashiro's voice echoed off the walls of the room.

"Oh my..." Urahara muttered as she came to a stop in front of him. Looking around, he noticed something. "Where's Kensei?" he asked the green haired girl who smiled at him.

"We met somebody that was fighting hollows that wasn't either Verena or Ichi." she told him. "He was big and strong and said you've been training him."

"Big and strong?" he asked, an image of Chad coming to mind. "I guess I've been training someone like that."

"They went off to see if they could stop the cracks from forming." she said. "I was asked to find out if you knew how to stop them."

"Oh..." Tatsuki's voice sounded as she slowly sat up rubbing her head. A giant headache was coming to the forefront of her mind. Talk about taking one for the team. she thought as she continued to rub her head. Looking to her side she saw Orihime was slowly waking up. "Are you okay?" she asked her.

"I-I think so." Orihime replied as she sat up before seeing the three people in front of her.

Mashiro squated as she stared at the two girls causing both to feel a bit uncomfortable. They're like the boy from before. Her hollow told her. They're strong.

Mashiro gave a nod in agreement. That's a good thing. she told her hollow before breaking the connection.

"Good, you both are awake now." Urahara's got everyone's attention.

Great. We were saved by that guy. Tatsuki thought as she remembered what happened before she had passed out.

"Who are you?" Orihime asked. Tatsuki did recall asking that very question before she had lost consciousness.

"I am Kisuke Urahara." he said introducing himself. "I am both Verena and Ichigo's teacher and friend. I am also training Sado in his powers." This surprised both girls. "I believe your strange powers like Sado, have been born from your connection to both of the Kurosaki children." With that he began his long explanation.

Ichigo growled in frustration as he was kicked to the side by a huge bird-type hollow. He looked to his other side at the bat-like ones who were hissing at him. Nice, King. You're surrounded. His hollow seemed bored but pointed this out any way.

Shut up. he grumbled before taking both of his swords and attacking with both as he was attacked on the left and right. Defending with the smaller one, he slashed the larger zangestsu down in a downward strike. Killing the bird-type he was about to kill the bat-type when a golden cord wrapped around the bat, causing it to screech as its body was destroyed by the cord.

Looking to his side, he saw Rose standing there looking as elegant as always. His blond hair blowing in the wind behind him. His hollow mask was in place. Touching the white bird-like mask, it shattered. "Looked like you could use some help." he told the teen.

Grinning, Ichigo yelled. "Thanks Rose!" He then turned on his heel to leave when suddenly he was kicked in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. "Hiyori!" he yelled at the pigtaled blond girl.

"What the fuck is going on, you idiot!" she yelled at him. "What did you do this time!"

"Nothing." he told her. Upon seeing Shinji behind her, Ichigo realized something was going on.

"If you did nothing," Shinji began before pointing behind him. "then why do we have one of those appearing in town."

Ichigo turned his head around and spotted the crack in the sky. A giant garganta was forming. Oh shit. Both he and his hollow cursed at the same time. "That's new." he mumbled.

Rose slapped a hand over his eyes as Shinji just shook his head. "You didn't sense that!?" Hiyori yelled at him.

"Of course not!" Ichigo yelled at her.

Just then Ichigo saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. A small hollow had been about to attack him, but Rukia had taken it out with a kido attack. "Ichigo!" she yelled as she was running up to him, when she suddenly came to a sliding stop. "We've got a problem, you dumbass!"

"Stop calling me-" he was suddenly kicked in the face again.

"I'm calling you a dumbass because of that!" she pointed towards the garganta. "You said you'd protect everyone before harm could come to them. Because of you and that Quincy more hollows than necessary are going to bombard this town!"

"I've got it handled!" he yelled at her as he stood up.

"Handled?" she asked, looking as if she about to blow a fuse. "This is not being handled! People are getting hurt all over the place. You've got nothing handled."

Ichigo grinned. "I do now." he said looking towards Shinji, Rose and Hiyori. "You guys are going to help, right?"

Shinji grinned. "And let your Shinigami friend think we're being lazy?" he asked. "Of course we'll help."

Rose looked towards the sky before answering. "We can take care of the small fry. You take care of that before we have a real problem." he said as he nodded towards the garganta.

"Sure thing." Ichigo grabbed Rukia by her wrist.

It was as if it finally registered to her that Rukia took notice of the three people who were there. As she was being dragged away she voiced what she was thinking. "Wait a minute, who are those people?!" she half yelled, half asked Ichigo as he dragged her away. "Ichigo!"

"I'll explain later!" he yelled at her as he threw her onto his back and engaged his flashstep. Her scream was the last thing the visoreds heard from her.

"I'll take the river." Shinji told the other two.

"Huh?" Hiyori asked as he vanished from sight.

"I've got the gardens." Rose stated before calling his mask and leaving a bewildered Hiyori behind.

"Wait a damn second, why do I get the residential?!" she yelled angrily to no one but herself.

Hehehe...She heard her hollow laugh.

"Shut up!" she yelled before pulling her zanpakuto from it's sheath and going on a hollow hunt herself.

Across town near the business buildings, both Lisa and Love were working together to take down three crab-like hollows and a parasite hollow that could dodge in and out of existence. "People are going to start getting hurt if we can't stop these hollows from coming into the living world." she stated as the crab launched itself at her. Slicing through the hard armor shell, she killed the first hollow.

Slamming his zanpakuto turned club into the last two crab hollows, Love nodded in agreement. "I can sense Ichigo's reiatsu heading towards the garganta. Perhaps Urahara has come up with a plan." he stated as the parasite launched itself at them, it's jaw open to take a bit out of them when suddenly an arrow hit the creature in the side and killed it instantly. Both former shinigami looked towards the source. There stood Uryu with his bow, readying another arrow as another parasite jumped out of the building behind the two visoreds. The arrow went through the creature before exploding inside of it, turning it to the two looked towards the Quincy once more, he was gone.

"Since when has there been a Quincy around?" Lisa asked, getting silence from Love.

Verena dodged the energy blast sent by the odd looking hollow in front of her. The creature had four heads. One on it shoulders, one under each arm and a forth that was in the center of its back. Odd was an understatement though. The creature could control the elements, making it harder to fight it. It had already dodged her attempts at using her bow. Forcing her to fight with her still unnamed zanpakuto. Every so often she could feel a brushing against her mind, as if the sword was trying to communicate with her, but so far it had been silent.

It'd be so much easier if I knew it's name so I could use its shikai form to fight. she thought as she hit from an ice type attack from the hollow in front of her. The ice began to creep up the side of a building causing it to begin to crumble. It's a good thing this side of town is filled with dilapidated buildings that nobody lives in. she thought as she felt the earth begin to move under her feet. Shit. she mentally cursed as she was forced into the air once again.

A fiery blast came her way when suddenly Verena was no longer in the spot shed been seconds ago. Turning her head she saw that it was her friend and mentor, Yoruichi. "Yo." The cat woman looked towards the monstrosity. "I think you could use my help." It was then she noticed Verena holding her sword for the first time. Smiling at her, Yoruichi spoke. "After we kill this hollow, you've got to tell me how you unsealed your zanpakuto."

"Sure." Verena agreed.

"I'll confuse it with my speed, while you take the creature out." Yoruichi decided.

"I don't think-" Verena began, only to be interrupted.

"It'll work." Yoruichi assured her. "Trust me."

Verena looked at her nervously. Isn't she the one who said never trust someone who says trust me? she wondered as she followed the purple haired woman back into the fight. As Yoruichi sped up on her flashstep, to the point where she was making clones of herself, that's when Verena went in for the first strike."Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, March on to the south! Hado #31: Shakkaho!" A blaze of red energy shot out of her hands towards the two masked faces under the arms of the hollow. Cries of pain came from the creature before spike of ice came flying towards Verena. Grasping her sword once more, Verena struck the ice down with a single swipe of her blade.

Behind the hollow, Yoruichi struck the third masked face with a kick that cracked the mask. Pouring as much spiritual power into her sword as she could, Verena struck the hollow in a downward strike. The mask shattered before the hollow disintegrated into dust.

"Hado #4: Byakurai!" A cry was heard from on high as a concentrated, powerful bolt of lightning shot out from the tiny female on Ichigo's back as she shot at the hollows in front of them. "You could've left me behind to help."

You would've gotten in the way. he thought but kept his mouth shut. "I may need your assistance." he lied, partially. "I suck at kido." he told her.

"So what's the plan?" she asked him.

"I don't really have one." he mumbled under his breath.

"What?!" she yelled at him, when suddenly the hollow shed struck down suddenly was flying towards them again.

Shit! Rukia cursed inwardly. My attacks aren't effective at all any longer! She touched her chest. I've been stuck in this gigai for almost two months now and yet my strength hasn't returned at all! Ichigo slammed his foot into the face of the hollow causing its mask to crack before it was obliterated by a strike by his sword. He's getting even stronger than what he use to be. she thought. Is it possible that he's surpassed what he was in power and is truly captain level? Ichigo...just what are you?

M-Angel: Okay, so I'm late in posting this chapter by a few hours. I've had family over all weekend due to it being Fathers Day, so I've been busy. It did however take me since Friday to write this chapter. I was going to continue writing until I noticed the word count. LoL! I hope everybody enjoyed this chapter. Also, my poll will be up for one more week. I have a tie right now, so hopefully the tie will break by next Sunday.

GunBlade2018: That was my plan for both.

AmberDeath15: IchiRuki

Antex-The Legendary: Thanks!