Chapter 45: First Fights

Ichigo wasn't sure if the two shinigami in front of them knew Hiyori had a short fuze or if they'd never been on the receiving end of her anger. Any which way it was it would seem the midget comment had set her off. "Shove it baldy!" Hiyori screamed back before throwing her sandle at the man who lacked hair. As always, Hiyori hit her target perfectly.

The man who had been laughing now sported a Hiyori sized footprint in his face. His companion who had remained silent until now burst out laughing. "Quiet Yumichika!" the bald one yelled.

"My, my," Yumichika began once he regain his composure . "your aim is as deadly as always, Hiyori."

"Tch." the short girl snorted. "What are you and dimwit doing this far from the eleventh?"

"Well, we are suppose to apprehend those who came through the shield. " Yunichika raised his sword with somewhat threatening aura about him.

"That's us." Ganju said stating the obvious.

Hiyori was about to say something when Ichigo stepped forward. "I'm sorry, but we don't have time for this." Removing his sword on from his back and then the second from his side. "So if you won't move of your own will. .." he began before sending one attack at the front with his larger sword. As the dust rose from the attack the two officers were revealed to have jumped into the air only to be shot at by a huge arrow that sent them both dashing out of the way of the attack.

An arrow? Yumichika thought before realizing these people might have a weapon similar to another group of beings. "Ikkaku!" he called out to warn his companion when he noticed that his friend had flash stepped back into the fray. Idiot. he thought before speaking his zanpakuto's named. "Fujikujaku." The sword suddenly fanned out into four blades. Rushing forward he was suddenly stopped by a kick to the stomach from Hiyori before three balls were thrown at his face and exploded. He suddenly couldn't breathe as a gas filled with pepper spray filled the area causing him to cough and sneeze with intensity.

This allowed both Hiyori and Ganju to escape, though not for long as Yumichika gave chase. This left Ichigo with Ikkaku. After introductions, which Ikkaku had demanded on, Ichigo was about to attack when the other man began to do a weird dance that involve getting on his hip toes. Both Ichigo and his hollow were dumbfounded by how stupid this was. Isn't this guy taking this seriously? When Ikkaku summoned his sword into a spear, Ichigo was still not impressed and neither was the hollow. If this guy was an example of strength for the lieutenants here, then this was gonna be breeze. In the end Ichigo decided to sheath his smaller sword and slash at Ikkaku with the larger blade of zangetsu. Ikkaku's spear blade broke in half and he was cut from the left shoulder down diagonally to his right hip. Not wanting the man to bleed out, Ichigo looked for any type of healing wrap or salve, as Kisuke always talked about how most shinigami carried such things upon their person. He found a secret stash of salve in the hilt of the broken sword.

"Tell me," Ichigo began, knowing the other man was semi-awake. "Is there anyone here very strong?"

Ikkaku blinked in surprise. "Yes." he answered. "My captain."

Ichigo gave a nod. "Okay. Hopefully I won't have to fight him, but if I do I hope it's a good fight." He then stood up and walked away.

A good fight? Ikkaku thought as he fell unconscious. You have no idea what kind of right you'll be in for. Captain Kenpachi, he'll slaughter you.

Verena looked at Tatsuki to ensure she wasn't hurt in any way. Besides a few bumps and bruises the two of them seemed to be just fine. As to where they were, they seemed to have landed in what looked like a residential area. There didn't seem to be anyone around, which made it easier to walk around and see where they actually were. Pushing off of the ground, Verena jumped up onto the high wall; pulling Tatsuki with her. As the two ran on top of the wall, they were able to navigate through the maze-like area that they had arrived in. That was when she felt Ichigo's spiritual energy spike near the large towers. Feeling his energy she could tell he had just had a fight, but it wasn't much of one. Off towards the east she could feel a large energy heading towards what she felt was Uryu and Inoue.

Pausing in her steps she felt Tatsuki collided with her back. "What the-" Her friend began only for Verena to hold up a hand at her.

"If you continue this way you will come across Orihime and Ishida." she explained as she jumped from the rooftop of the wall towards the one tuning parallel to it. "However, I've been feeling a large amount of energy coming from the east. It feels...familiar. I'm going to follow it and see where it leads me. Help Inoue out. I don't think she's going to be up to fighting unless she's forced to."

"Tch." Tatsuki snorted. "As if Mr Handy would let her. " She then took off towards where her best friend was.

Mr Handy? Verena smirked at the nickname Tatsuki had come up with for Uryu. Refocusing her thoughts on the energy source ahead of herself, she was kind of curious to see if it was who she thought it was.

Shinji twirled his sword around before replacing in at his side. About a dozen foot soldiers were left passed out behind him. Kensei and Rose rejoined him on either side as they finished their short fights. The soldiers they had come across thus far were low leveled ones. His eyes scanned the street to the left of them. On one hand, they could go to Central 46 and kill a bunch of old men who had been oh so happy to sentence them to death a hundred years ago. His eyes then turned towards the street ahead of him. Then again, they could go straight to the source and stir up trouble there. Decisions. Decisions. Stepping forward he engaged his flash step and headed straight forward. He did enjoy a good show and if they happened to cross paths with the real traitors, all the better.

M-Angel: Sorry for the very long wait on this story. Work has been so hectic. Now that we have the new people trained I am going to be getting a day or two more off of work. This means I might be able to write more than once a week. This may mean more posts. Hopefully.

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark - Yeah. Ikkaku got off lightly, but she is now a bit tired up.

GunBlade2019 - Hiyori is tough in her own way. I'm going to show that later on.

Mokushiroku115 - I plan to ensure a few survive, but that won't happen for a little while. I get to finish this arc first.

1740 - Glad you're enjoying this story.

Shea - I try to answer all reviews. This way everyone, including those not registered by the site, get their questions answered.

Goku2134 - I'm so glad you weren't disappointed by the last chapter.

Dandragonkyuubi - Actually Verena's name was chosen for two reasons. One it means Protector like Ichigo has the meaning Protector. Second was because of the Quincy heritage.

SosukeAizen115 - lol. I'm glad you are enjoying my rendition of this story. I hope you'll enjoy the upcoming plot twists I'm planning as well.