"Holy crap" said Layne, as he picked himself up off the floor after a forced ejection from the Dangai tunnel, surveying the scene around him "There has to be an easier way to do that…"
"Ohh Kurosaki-kun's landing pose is so artistic" exclaimed Inoue, who's Santen Kesshun had blocked the Kouryuu janitor and tossed them all out.
Ichigo who was currently lying on his back with his legs flipped backwards over his head
"Interesting pose Kurosaki" sniggered Ishida
"You talk too much" Ichigo snapped back as he flipped himself upright and looked around
"Looks like no one is hurt" remarked Moll "That's a good thing at least"
"What's so good about that?" Yoruichi yelled as she attempted to headbutt Orihime, but Layne, using his experience of Yoruichi catching and his speed merely caught Yoruichi before her head could connect with Orihime's "If the Janitor had touched the body of the Rikka you would have died!"
"Relax Yoruichi-san, it turned out ok" Layne muttered putting Yoruichi on the ground
"The smoke is clearing" Chad said softly
With the smoke clearing everyone took a look around at the area they were in; it looked like an old village with ramshackle huts, but the grass was green and the sky way blue, like the world they'd just come from
"This is Soul Society?" Ichigo questioned
"Yes" Yoruichi replied calmly "This is Rukongai, the outskirts where the majority of souls live, we need to move into the Seireitei, where the Shinigami live"
"Let's go then" Ichigo said impatiently "We need to get this done as fast as possible"
"Before we move on; we didn't properly do introductions" Yoruichi declared
"Introductions?" Ishida asked quizzically
"It's important for you to know the names of your allies, and the people that could potentially save your life in a combat situation"
"That makes sense" Chad agreed
"Well you all know who I am so I'll start with these two, Layne Trell, and Moll Rone, Shinigami whose powers were unlocked in a method similar to yours Ichigo"
Layne and Moll gave a short wave as Yoruichi continued introductions
"Layne, Moll, This is Ichigo Kurosaki, Uryuu Ishida, Yasutora Sado, and Orihime Inoue. Their goal here is to rescue Rukia Kuchiki"
Layne smiled, he knew a lot of what Yoruichi had just said, but if it was for Moll's benefit then it was okay
"Now that that's over with" Ichigo cut in, "It looks like we can just run straight in"
Ichigo started running at full speed in the direction of the Seireitei
"YOU IDIOT!" Yoruichi screeched "You'll die if you get to close!"
"Eh?" Ichigo stopped and turned around just in time to avoid a gigantic piece of wall that came down with a great crash from crushing him
"It's been so long since anyone has tried to break into the Seireitei" A new voice sounded with glee and put everyone immediately on guard "This will be a refreshing change"
"Jidanbou" breathed Yoruichi
Meanwhile Joel in the Seireitei had been doing quite well for himself, even though he hadn't found any trace of Moll or Layne. In the same time it had taken Moll and Layne to unlock their Shinigami powers and train, he had reached the fighting proficiency of a Gotei 13 lieutenant and immediately been assigned as the lieutenant for the thirteenth squad to replace Captain Ukitake's two argumentative third seats, needless to say neither of them had said a peep since the day Joel took over.
From his initial training session he had made two good friends among his fellow lieutenants, firstly Nemu Kurotsuchi, who had initially aided him and even disobeyed Captain Kurotsuchi a few times just to see him, and Renji Abarai who was currently walking down the hall with him.
"There was a lot of improvement in that last spar we had" Renji was saying "Unlocking Shikai like that is good, and it seemed that the fighting style is similar to the way you use a sealed zanpakuto, so there should be no problem you using your Shikai straight away in proper combat situations"
"Excellent" replied Joel, whose mind was still far off thinking of how Moll and Layne were doing
Just then an announcement came over the Seireitei
"Intruder Alert! Squads three, six, nine and thirteen to the West Gate to repel intruders; all other squads to regular battle positions"
Joel raised an eyebrow at that "Four squads to one gate? What the hell kind of intruders could affect us here?"
But he didn't notice that Renji's look had hardened and he had already flashstepped away
"That bastard" Joel cursed under his breath "He knows I'm not as fucking fast as he is"
When they arrived at the site they were surprised to see that only the third and ninth squads were there waiting for them
"Kira, what happened to our squads?" Joel questioned the third squad Lieutenant, currently commanding his subordinates around, They had procedures for this kind of occurrence, but hadn't needed to be utilized in living memory, Joel didn't even know what the exact procedures were supposed to be.
"They were ordered out" Kira replied
"By who?" Renji asked angrily
"By me" a new voice interrupted
Both Joel and Renji turned to look at the person who gave the orders and immediately shrank a little bit
"Please forgive our presumptions Captain Ichimaru" Renji quickly bowed respectfully and grabbed Joel, who looked like he was about to spit the dummy and flashstepped them both into an alley where they could watch what was happening
"What the hell was that all about Renji?" Joel growled
"Calm down, I know you don't like Captain Ichimaru, but getting angry over something like this will achieve nothing" Renji replied in a low voice,
They waited a few seconds before Joel broke the silence
"Why are we here anyway?" Joel said as he calmed down
"To get a look at these intruders" Renji replied curtly
"But Jidanbo's outside, shouldn't he repel the intruders?"
"If the intruders are who I think they are, they will have no problems at all getting through Jidanbo"
Joel had never seen Renji speak so fatalistically, it didn't really suit him at all and he said as much
"Don't say useless stuff like that, and shut up and watch, looks like something is happening"
Ichimaru had sent away the ninth squad and most of the third squad as well, and only he and his lieutenant Kira, were watching the gates as they began to open.
"He's pulling out his zanpakuto, Renji, he must be serious" Joel said, frowning as he observed Captain Ichimaru with a look of distaste on his face… he really, really didn't like that man.
Joel and Renji moved forward closer to get a better view and they watched a bad scene unfold
"The gatekeeper does not open the gate, rather if the gatekeeper fails he must die" murmured Ichimaru softly as he brought his zanpakuto down for a killing blow but it was suddenly blocked by Ichigo.
"What the hell is your problem?" Ichigo shouted as he moved Zangetsu up and down in a chopping motion to get rid of the aftershock of the powerful hit he had just blocked
"If you wanna fight someone, fight me" he continued calmly, settling Zangetsu into a combat ready position.
Chad, Orihime, Moll, Ishida and Yoruichi observed as Ichimaru started walking away from Ichigo. Layne however, caught a momentary flash of immediate killing intent and jumped behind Ichigo just in time to unsheathe his zanpakuto and block a deathblow from Kira.
"Damn Ichigo, how could you miss the killing intent embedded in that reiatsu", Layne grinned as he pushed Kira back"
"Shut the hell up" Ichigo snapped back
"Have it your way"
"Ya know, Izuru, ya might wanna move out of the way" Ichimaru cut in
"Yes Captain", Kira replied and flashstepped beside Ichimaru
Layne turned around and stood beside Ichigo facing Ichimaru and Kira,
"What you gonna do with that small knife?" Ichigo mocked "Throw it?"
"This isn't a knife" and here Ichimaru sounded hurt but then turned completely serious "This is my zanpakuto. Shoot to kill, Shinsou!"
Shinsou split the blade into two and both blades extended and aimed directly for Ichigo and Layne
Ichigo blocked the oncoming point with the flat side of Zangetsu but Layne didn't have enough time to release Roxas and so just attempted to catch the blade with his hollowfied hand. It worked rather well, the hand had something similar to a hollow's natural armor and so only got a little scratched as Shinsou nicked it.
The force of the push however, sent both Layne and Ichigo flying backwards into Jidanbo, holding up the gate and the three of them rolled out and lay unmoving on the floor outside the gate
"Bye, Bye" Ichimaru said in a fake glee-filled tone as the gate closed behind Layne and Ichigo's abrupt exit
Kira and Ichimaru flashstepped off, and Joel let out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.
"Shit"
"For Captain Ichimaru to release to take on a couple of intruders" Renji agreed
Joel raised an eyebrow at his friend
"Not that, I didn't recognize the orange head, but that guy who blocked Kira's strike was my friend Layne" and here he slumped to the floor and looked at it in defeat "That idiot, He's going to get himself killed here, and I may have to play a part in it"
Renji said nothing as Joel slumped down and held his forehead in his hands, an obvious shadow of despair creeping up on him, There wasn't much too say, Joel had summed it up nicely.
Joel had taken the oath to follow the Gotei 13's orders to the letter, and Renji knew even from their short friendship that Joel would obey an order to run Layne through on the spot, but he'd be an emotional wreck afterwards.
Then it clicked in Renji's head, "C'mon, Joel, I know who you need to go see" he said, broadly grinning as he shoved his worries about Ichigo into the back of his mind to make space for concern for his friend Joel.
"IT HURTS!" screeched Ichigo as he picked himself up off the ground and sheathed Zangetsu, muttering curse words about Ichimaru's existence
"That was one hell of a hit" Layne shot back as he sat up and inspected his hollowfied hand which was beginning to bleed profusely, He held it up so everyone else could see, "Such small scratches and such a large amount of blood" he said with clinical detachment
"Ohh Trell-kun let me heal your hand" Orihime, exclaimed with worry
"It's Layne, ok, and before you heal me we should get this guy's arm reattached" he said indicating Jidanbo.
Moll, Ishida and Yoruichi just watched as between the three of them, Layne, Ichigo and Chad got the arm back in place and Orihime began to heal it.
Layne, Ichigo and Chad walked back to join Yoruichi, Moll and Ishida and Moll couldn't help notice the strange looks Layne was giving his right hand, the hand that was no longer bleeding
"Wasn't that bleeding like a torn fire hydrant just a second ago?" she whispered to him. as no one else seemed to have noticed
"Yeah, it's in near perfect condition now, it's like it regenerated" Layne whispered back about to continue but interrupted by a cat's claw to the back of his head
"Now, that everyone is listening Ichigo, why don't you say that again" Yoruichi said in what could only be taken as a pleased tone
"I'm sorry, Yoruichi-san, for losing us the entrance way" Ichigo replied through gritted teeth
"Well, since it was a Captain that was waiting for us, we would have lost the entryway anyway so it's no big deal, it's a victory that we all got out alive"
Veins popped in Ichigo's head and steam came from his ears "Then why did you make me apologize, three times"
"To embarrass you"
"Bastard"
"But putting aside unimportant things"
"Like Ichigo's ego", Moll and Ishida thought in unison
"We do need to find an alternate way in, and fortunately, I know a person who can help us, but we should start moving as soon as Orihime is finished to get there before dark."
"By all means, Yoruichi-san, lead the way then" Ishida said courteously
"How long have we been walking!"
Surprisingly the first person to crack wasn't Ichigo, but Moll
"Is it supposed to take this long to get a place that's close?" she continued irritably
The group had been walking for hours now and everyone except Layne and Yoruichi was experiencing the effects of extreme boredom
Layne's speed was now at a level that Yoruichi had to revert to human form to be able to outpace him.
They were currently engaged in a game of tag and moving so fast that only they could even see each other, but every now and then Layne would stop and relay directions to the group.
But by now, Moll was absolutely bored out of her mind, and seething with anger because Layne was currently moving too fast for her to take out her boredom on him.
Only Ichigo was stupid enough to reply
"Must be tough, not being able to see your boyfriend cause he's moving too fast for you" he drawled lazily
That was the last straw. Moll snapped like a rubber band
For the next few minutes all you could hear from the group was Ichigo screaming in pain and Moll shouting "He's not my fucking boyfriend!"
Renji carried an unconscious Joel through the halls of the 12 squad Headquarters
After seeing Layne shot out of the gates by Shinso, Joel had gotten depressed over the thought that he would end up fighting against his friend eventually and wasn't even talking to Renji
Although when they had stopped outside the 12th division gates he had snapped out of it in the fear of being left there for Captain Kurotsuchi to experiment on and had attempted to run for his life but Renji had knocked him unconscious and hefted him over his shoulder with some difficulty and entered
"It's for your own good Joel" Renji muttered as he attempted to dodge most of the members of 12th
He had just dodged Akon when he saw the person he had been looking for.
Nemu didn't realize she had moved until Renji had dropped them both off in her quarters and shouted
"I'll be back for him in a few hours!"
She looked around the room slightly confused until she caught sight of Joel waking up on her bed
"That bastard" he groaned groggily "Where in the hell has he left me?"
He sat up, stretched his neck, and caught sight of Nemu
"Oh Nemu, where am I?"
"We are currently in my private quarters, as dropped off by Lieutenant Abarai; I do not have any explanation to why we are here though." She replied unemotionally
"Perfect, now I'll have to make it out of here while avoiding Captain Kurotsuchi" Joel sighed
He moved over to the door and attempted to open it, only to find it locked
"Uhh... Nemu, the door is locked; is there a way to open it from this side?"
"No, Mayuri-sama installed the lock himself, I am generally not allowed to leave the headquarters in my free time so he locks me in here to prevent my rebellious personality from forcing me out"
"…You've never tried to get out once have you?"
"Not once" she confirmed
"So I'm stuck here until he comes back" Joel sighed with resignation as he moved back to the bed, took off his zanpakuto and sat down on the bed, leaning his back against the wall it was pressed up against
As he leaned his head up against the wall as well, Nemu was inwardly surprised to see the tears glistening as they slowly rolled down his face; outwardly her only change in expression was a fractional lowering of the eyebrows in what would have been considered to be a frown in other people
"Joel? What is causing your tears?" she asked lightly as she moved over to sit next to him, unaware of the delicate situation she was stepping into
Joel was too far gone in sadness to pay any attention to the fact that it wasn't Renji he was talking too
"I always talk about Layne, don't I? How great he is, how lucky I am that he's my friend"
"I have heard many of your speeches on the topic of Layne" she admitted
"Today Renji and I saw him… One of the intruders at the West gate it was Layne. In one of our shihakusho's, with a zanpakuto, and he got blasted out by Ichimaru's Shinso"
Nemu understood suddenly, or at least she thought she did
"Then you are crying because of your friend's death?
Joel looked up angrily at that
"Hell No! Layne wouldn't die from a shot that weak, Nah" he said settling down and leaning his head on Nemu's shoulder
"I'm a real piece of shit… I swear an oath to the Gotei 13 and at the very first thing that challenges it… I'm trying to worm my way out of it… I don't want to kill Layne"
Joel choked his words out, before tearing up again
"What do I do Nemu?"
No further words were needed; as Nemu absorbed the impact of that statement she realized why Renji had dropped him off here.
The two them had become fast friends due to Joel, A very weird occurrence seeing as Nemu was introverted and shy due to her upbringing and current position, and Renji was loud and overbearing at times,
They didn't realize a similar thing had happened with Layne and Moll, even though Joel described them both over a thousand times and had said more often than not that Nemu reminded him of Layne and Renji reminded him of Moll
And as such, only Renji knew that Nemu had romantic interests in Joel, even her fellow friends in the Shinigami Woman's Association hadn't a clue about it
And it pained Nemu to see Joel like this, and so she did the only sane thing she could think of, she held him tight and lay down on the bed with him until he slept, and they didn't move, even when Renji came to get Joel out before Captain Kurotsuchi saw him.
Layne, a bruised and battered Ichigo, Ishida, Orihime, Chad and a seething Moll sat around a table in the Shiba household
Layne and Yoruichi had felt the reiatsu bursts during their game of tag and had gone to investigate and found Moll kicking the living shit out of Ichigo.
Layne immediately knew she was bored and Ichigo had done something or other to piss her off and so immediately broke it up and restrained Moll and tossed her to Chad to carry the rest of the way
"Goddammit Moll, what the hell is wrong with you?" he had scolded her "This isn't school, these people carry swords"
"Jeez, with allies like you two, I'm beginning to think I might die before I get inside Seireitei again" Ichigo muttered sarcastically
"What did I do?" Layne asked
Ichigo just growled at him and turned away, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Layne, who glanced towards Chad, Ishida and Orihime for an explanation, but only received shrugs and looks of confusion
"That's a distinct possibility Ichigo" Yoruichi said calmly as she returned to the table with Kuukaku Shiba
"Our method of entry is dangerous and can only be achieved by the Firework Launcher owned by Kuukaku here"
Kuukaku tossed each of them a small orb
"Listen up brats, those orbs need reiatsu to function, so you need to pour your reiatsu into them and they'll create a shield that will shoot through the shield over Seireitei"
"Pour reiatsu?" Ichigo wanted to know
"Like for Kido"
"Kido?"
Kuukaku, Layne and Moll turned and stared at Ichigo with various expressions, Shock, tired amusement, and downright sadistic glee in that order
This is going to be interesting
Layne thought to himself wearily, shaking his head as he contemplated the thought of yet more training