"So you're serious, you can't do Kido?" Kuukaku asked, staring at Ichigo incredulously, unable to comprehend that he was unable to do such a basic skill, almost of a necessary requirement of being a Shinigami
Layne, Yoruichi and Moll glanced at each other, electing not to mention that Layne couldn't actually do Kido either, a strange side effect of his right hand
Yoruichi sighed, "Kisuke never got around to it, like he did with Moll here"
Choosing her words carefully enabled her to provide an explanation, without having to volunteer too much information
"Ahh well, we can always learn" Kuukaku said good naturedly as she got up, shaking her head at the concept of a proper Shinigami not being able to do Kido
"C'mon brats"
Motioning them to follow, Kuukaku led the group to the base of her gigantic firework launcher and told them to start their practice, handing them each an orb and telling them to focus their reiatsu into it to form the cannonball they would use to break through the sky above the Seireitei
Fifteen minutes later she made everyone line up with their orbs held out
As she moved down the line she made small comments about each orb
"Nice shape…, Perfect… Not very stable but full of power… You did that with one hand? Good"
She stopped when she got to Ichigo and looked at his pitiful strip of orb and shook her head, before turning away, informing the group that there was food ready
No one really wanted to leave Ichigo alone but the glare he gave them was a good enough reason to leave, with Orihime glancing back sadly as she exited last
About ten minutes later Moll came back to the room to find Ichigo still concentrating on the orb
He looked up when he saw her enter and immediately freaked out thinking she came back to kick the shit out of him yet again
She laughed at his actions "Don't worry Ichigo, I only came to pick this up" and she held up a scroll with some complicated incantation
"…"
"Are you really having that much trouble with it?" she asked
"…"
"But it's sooo easy" she continued tauntingly
By now a vein was pulsing dangerously on Ichigo's temple, Moll or not Moll, there was no way in hell Ichigo was going to take this for much longer
"Here, pass me the orb, I'll show you how to do it"
Ichigo tossed her the orb and she immediately formed the protective bubble around her, floating slightly as the bubble hovered above the ground
Ichigo stared intently at the bubble for a few seconds before giving up the impression that he was learning something
"I didn't learn a thing from that" he complained irritably
"I know" she replied mischievously "The point was to see if you'd try"
"You bitch" he growled "Did you really come here to help me?"
"Like I said, no; but I'll help you anyway cause I can tell you want to rescue this Rukia person pretty badly, you want to tell me why? Money? Sex?"
"None of those" Ichigo replied gaining a far off look, before realizing exactly what she'd said as he turned a bright shade of red
"Wait sex?! What the hell are you thinking?" Ichigo demanded "What the hell kind of ideas do you have?!"
"We're literally going to rescue a girl trapped in a dungeon by an evil army… it's like every fairy tale princess story ever… except in real life… there's sex"
"I'm fifteen!"
"That doesn't really put up any sort of solid argument against my point… but I think I believe you, you seem too noble for that... also way too much of a prude"
Moll was silent for a few seconds while she stared at Ichigo, until her curiosity got the better of her
"Then why?"
"I owe her everything; she gave me her Shinigami powers so I could save my family and because of that they came for her and she's going to be executed. I'm not a punk who'll sit and do shit all when someone is going to get hurt for my sake"
Moll's eyes widened fractionally and anyone who knew her well would day she had gone into shock.
Indecisiveness played across her face and then her resolve tightened.
"Listen up Ichigo, the key to reiatsu manipulation is Imagery. Even that idiot Layne, who can't do Kido can do this silly thing… you saw it before right?" She pointed a finger at a target in the distance
"Hado no. 6, Hellflame Inferno" and a thin jet of flame shot out of the finger and incinerated the target
"So what exactly do I do then?" Ichigo asked quizzically as he attempted to snatch the Orb back
Moll moved it out of his reach and replied
"Focus on an image that can be paralleled to reiatsu manipulation; personally I think of a balloon being filled with air, and Layne says he thinks of scooping water into a cup from a lake"
"Here" she continued tossing him the orb "Try it out now"
Ichigo concentrated on an image for a second and found one he thought would work "Got It"
"Then imagine your hands at the things being filled and the Orb will just leech straight off it" Moll replied distractedly
Moll moved to the door and slumped down next to it, not really watching Ichigo try to use the orb, lost in memory as she whispered "Dammit Layne"
"Are we really going to get anything done here?" Joel complained exasperatedly
Every Captain had been called off to another Captain's meeting and had dropped their Lieutenants off at a supposed Lieutenants meeting, forgetting that they'd finished their weekly meeting around three hours beforehand.
Captain Ukitake had been too sick with his tuberculosis yet again and so Captain Kyoraku had come to guide Joel, as his directional sense was nearly as bad as Kenpachi's
Kyoraku had an ulterior motive however. His Lieutenant, Nanao Ise had injured her foot on her last field mission and wasn't allowed to walk on it and had to be carried anywhere if she wanted to get there fast. She had point blank refused to allow Kyoraku to carry her and he had capitulated and gotten Joel to do it.
So when Joel arrived at the meeting, with Nanao giggling at one of his jokes on his back, he had earned a few weird looks and one even blanker that usual look from Nemu, who felt incredibly sick at that point in time when she caught sight of him and Nanao.
For a couple minutes they kept up the pretence of having a meeting before Joel lodged his complaint, bored out of his mind as they had rehashed shit they'd already gone over
Joel's mental state was much improved from before… He'd decided to do his duty, and accept the consequences as they came up, there was no point in worrying about things that might or might not happen
Lieutenants Sasakibe and Omaeda gave Joel a deathglare, but he didn't mind, one was fat and the other was boring and Joel had already beaten both of them in a sealed form only duel.
All the other Lieutenants flashed him a grateful look and they split off into small groups
Sasakibe with Omaeda, Renji with Kira and Hinamori, Nanao with Yachiru, Matsumoto and Isane, and Hisagi with Iba
Joel was about to move over to join Renji even though he didn't know Kira or Hinamori all that well, when someone tapped his shoulder and he turned around
It was Nemu, sporting her trademark lack of expression as she stood behind him, her hands moving into their usual resting position clasped together in front of her
"Joel, would you please accompany me for a short conversation", she said in a polite, but slightly strained tone
Joel immediately noticed the subtle difference in her tone and instantly guessed something was wrong, but couldn't even begin to imagine what it was
"What's wrong Nemu?" He asked concerned
"Nothing at all"
"C'mon, give me a little credit, I know you better than that"
He grabbed her arm and flashstepped them both out of earshot of all the other Lieutenants.
"So what's up?" he asked lightly
She looked directly at him and Joel was momentarily stunned by the intensity of her gaze
"Do you have a romantic interest in Lieutenant Ise?"
"No" Joel started chuckling "Why would you ask that, I mean she's nice and all, but she's gone on Kyoraku and its pretty obvious"
"Then why did you carry her here?"
"She point blank refused to let Kyoraku touch her and she can't walk on that leg yet, so Kyoraku made me carry her so she could guide me seeing as there are spirits of babies with better directional sense than mine"
After hearing that Nemu calmed down, so she had simply misread the situation and made an incorrect assumption, that was good.
As she opened her mouth to consolidate her position the intruder alarm sounded
"All Squads, report to combat stations!" the announcer boomed
"Crap" Joel muttered, partly because he thought this had something to do with Layne and party because he'd forgotten where he was meant to go
"Where's thirteenth stationed again?
"With twelfth" Nemu replied dispassionately, though inwardly quite pissed off at whatever intruder had interrupted her time with Joel
"Then let's go" and Joel picked up Nemu and piggybacked her as they were going to the same place anyway
Whatever lingering disappointment or annoyance Nemu held towards Nanao or Joel disappeared instantly as she clutched onto his back tightly, to not fall off in transit
Three shadows watched them leave and a female voice began to snicker as soon as they were gone
"Looks like the freak's slutty creation wants to get jiggy with the new lieutenant"
"Whatever" a second voice said in a bored tone "Hopefully I get to kill the both of them for Aizen, though it's a damned shame Ichimaru got to Layne before we did; I still owe him a couple of scars
"Even if Layne was still alive, He'd be mine and mine alone to kill" a third voice warned
"I'm not saying anything otherwise" The other voice exclaimed hastily
"Good, now let's get back to our squads, we gotta keep this facade up for as long as Aizen says
Everyone currently eating in Kuukaku's meeting hall was suddenly finding it a little harder to breathe as a massive reiatsu started emanating from the firework room
"What's up with this pressure?" Ishida asked, a little unnerved by it
"It's Kurosaki-kun" whispered Orihime
As soon as the words left her mouth Kuukaku was out the door heading for the base of the firework launcher with everyone else close behind her
They came upon Moll outside the room, gasping for breath as she leaned against the wall, having barely made it outside before Ichigo finally managed to activate the orb
"What happened?" Kuukaku demanded
"I'm sorry… I just taught him how to do it…" Moll choked out
Layne and everyone else didn't understand but Kuukaku seemed to
"IDIOT!" she screeched into the room "Refine and focus your reiatsu already!
Within a few seconds, everyone was breathing easy again and they all walked into the room to see Ichigo in a perfect Shield Orb
"I got it!" He shouted in surprise
"Go Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime shouted back
As Ichigo celebrated his victory over reiatsu manipulation cracks began to appear in the bubble
Layne's eyebrows raised a fraction in alarm and Kuukaku shouted "Don't lose your concentration!" but it was too late
The Orb exploded and a couple of minutes when the smoke cleared Layne was buried under a pile of rubble with his legs sticking out in mid-air and Kuukaku was kicking the crap out of Ichigo, everyone else who had waited outside was lucky and unaffected by the blast
"So what did I tell you about concentration?!" Kuukaku said furiously
"Not to lose it under any circumstance" Ichigo cringed from Kuukaku's furious fist
"Then what happened? Did you do it on purpose you punk?"
"Kuukaku" Yoruichi interrupted, "Leave it alone, when all of us are in the same orb it'll be alright because the rest of us can compensate for this idiot"
"I guess" Kuukaku mumbled, disappointed at not being able to hit Ichigo more
"If that's sorted then Yoruichi-san, could we get on with the plan?" Ishida asked impatiently, as Chad, Moll and Inoue dug Layne out from the rubble
"Of course Ish-YOWOW!"
Yoruichi started screaming because Ichigo had passed out behind her and grabbed her tail in one hell of a deathgrip.
"Get it off! She screeched"
"Shit" Joel cursed, kicking the air
"Not a single damn sight of invaders," he repeated angrily "You got anything Nemu?
Joel and Nemu had immediately gone and organized their squads when the intruder alert had been called, and then split into a team by themselves and combed over the areas being searched by the two squads, it was unorthodox, Mayuri would hate it, he hated seeing Nemu getting close to people other than himself, though he didn't realize the reason she wasn't close to him was entirely his fault. Though Ukitake would love it, he always approved of interdivisional co-operation, and the fact that Joel was indirectly protecting Nemu from Mayuri was just icing on the cake
"No, I have been unable to locate any, physical evidence or reiatsu that would suggest any intruders have been in this area" Nemu said calmly
"I'm banking on false alarm, everyone's edgy cause actual intruders is a rare sight here in the Seireitei" Joel mused
"That would be a logical conclusion"
"Eh, let's go back, it's getting freaking late"
Late at night outside the Kuukaku mansion Layne sat on the front porch by himself, contemplating a small hip flask that he'd just taken a swig from before Moll joined him, snatched his flask, took a drink and spat it out immediately
"What the hell is that stuff?" She asked as she gagged "You brought a flask of tonic water to Soul Society?"
"Nah" Layne replied unperturbed by her usual action "I bring this flask everywhere…it's the last thing my mum gave me before she died…and I love tonic water, tonic water is great"
Moll was surprised, Layne never usually talked about his mother, he wasn't prone to publicly angsting over anything
"Hell only you could drink that shit anyway" she said, but without rancor
They sat in silence for a few more seconds before Moll recalled what she'd been thinking about before Ichigo nearly took them all out in a blaze of learning
"Layne?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are we here?"
"To rescue Rukia...right?" He replied with a quizzical glance in her direction… wasn't it obvious?
"The real reason… not what Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Ishida and Yoruichi-san are here for, the reason to snap agreed to this when it was brought up, even though we've already nearly died at least three or four times between us"
Layne was silent as he took another sip of the flask, before capping it and stashing back in the folds of his robes and leaning back against the wall of the house
"I'm here to find Joel; I figure this might be the best chance we have"
"Yeah" Moll replied "Sure, that's easy to justify… but I know there's something you're not telling me"
"I genuinely like these guys, and it bothers the hell out of me that Ichigo doesn't trust me in the slightest… he even seems to trust you, and all you did was help him with that stupid orb, I've saved his ass twice"
Moll was quiet again
"Do you remember the day we, us and Joel became friends?"
Layne nodded "You bet I do, I'd show you the scars but this hand covers them" he said as he indicated his hollowfied hand
"Yeah, it was one hell of a day
-Flashback—
Moll and Joel walked along the sidewalk talking about crap, school had been out for about half an hour and it was a Friday afternoon and they were heading to Joel's for a swim
As they walked they came upon an unfair sight, that solitary kid Layne getting the shit kicked out of him by three people Moll and Joel knew very well.
Jed Bluzer, Joel's older brother and a regular hard case, you name it he smoked it, sniffed it, shot it, injected it, whatever, hated Joel and Joel hated Jed, why he would be beating up on Layne though Joel had no clue
Anita Schwietzer, Funny name, bad attitude, Moll and her went way back and hated each other from the day they set eyes on each other
And the leader of the group, Kieran Trell, Layne's very own biological brother, cold and sadistic, currently thrashing Layne with an Iron pole
Layne himself was introverted, he was in Moll and Joel's year but he didn't really talk to anyone, but he wasn't weird, just gave off the impression that he liked to be alone. He hadn't been at school today and there had been some talk of his mum dying, Moll hoped not. She'd met Layne's mum and had found the woman to be in a word, awesome.
Layne wasn't even trying to defend himself, he was just letting the three rain blow after blow on him while he stood there, not even flinching
"Joel we have to help that idiot"
"Looks like he's doing fine to me"
"Look at the condition he's in you idiot"
Joel jumped into the fray and kicked Kieran's pole away and grabbed Jed's fist while Moll punched Anita and made her jump back
"What the hell are you doing you idiot?" Moll yelled angrily "Fight back, there's no reason to stand there and take this shit, look how badly you're hurt"
"Oh look," Anita began scathingly, "It's the this bitch and the Baby Bluzer interfering with our fun"
"Ahh well, I was getting bored anyway" Kieran mocked, "C'mon Jed, Anita"
They turned and walked off a little way away
"What the fuck are you doing" Moll berated Layne angrily "Just cause your mums dead doesn't give you the right to go get yourself killed"
"Ye-"Joel began to say as a knife thwacked from nowhere and impaled him in the arm, the same thing happened to Moll except it hit the fleshy part of her leg and they both went down
The three goons hooted with laughter "Who knew those idiots would think they got rid of us that easily" Kieran guffawed
Layne's eyes widened in shock as the two people that just saved his ass passed out from the pain
Kieran readied a third knife "I'd say I'm sorry Layne, but I'm not, so fucking die and leave me all your cash"
Kieran arched his wrist and threw the knife on perfect target for Layne's head
But by now Layne had come to a decision, anyone who would have looked into his eyes as he looked at the fallen forms of Joel and Moll, two people he knew by association but not as actual friends, would have been surprised by the intensity of the fire burning behind those usually unemotional eyes
As the knife arced towards Layne's head he moved his hand faster than the goons eyes could follow and Layne caught it by the blade, dropping it on the floor with a soft clatter
"Your knives don't hurt as much as you think they do" he said calmly, twisting his body to face them head on as he lifted his palm and inspected the cuts that catching the knife had caused
"No fucking way" Jed whispered, "Kieran is the fastest knife thrower around"
Layne started walking towards them, his expression stony and his eyes cold
"I don't know these guys… they don't owe me anything" Layne continued, flashing a glance at both Moll and Joel before returning his attention to the three goons "I was more than happy to die right here…now I'm just mad, I'm mad as hell at myself for letting these two get hurt…so for them… like a wave that's breaking, I will take you fuckers out"
"Bring it on Layne" Kieran smirked, winning one vs. three was shit that only happened in the movies, what did he possibly have to be worried about
-Flashback End—
"Even back then I was posturing" Layne commented
"Eh, We sort of forgave you after you saved our asses and kicked the shit out of three of them and got them thrown into juvie" Moll replied chuckling
"And then the three of us became friends"
"But do you remember what you said when I asked you why the hell you hadn't dodged that knife instead of catching the damn thing?"
"I deserved it, I sat back and let you guys get hurt for my sake?" Layne replied perfectly quoting himself
"Ichigo said the something similar earlier when I asked him why he wanted to save Rukia so bad, and it's that reason alone that I'm going to follow him, because I think he's cut from the same cloth as you Layne, and you know I'd follow you and Joel to the ends of this earth for a good reason"
"Yeah, Like I said… I'm all in on this, but…" Layne replied lightly "There's something else too, some underlying current that makes you trust him to be honest"
"You should know about that idiot" Moll stated as she walked inside the doors "You have the same thing, now hurry the fuck up and get to bed, we're shooting our asses out of that cannon at dawn tomorrow.