"How is he, Hanataro?" Layne asked as he sat and watched Hanataro work on Ichigo is a storeroom down in the sewers at little way away from the hatch where they had emerged, The storeroom was clean, full of medical supplies, and miraculously without smell
"I just need one night to completely heal him" Hanataro replied distractedly
"Aight, then I'll be back soon"
Layne left Hanataro to his work, and proceeded through the sewers to where he could feel a powerful reiatsu emanating from… and getting closer
Since Ichigo was down and not emitting anywhere near enough reiatsu for Layne to hide behind, Layne would have to take on all comers that came sensing his reiatsu
He rounded a corner and immediately caught sight of the source of the reiatsu assailing his senses
A youthful woman with long black hair, strangely braided in the front, wearing a captain's haori, and an extremely tall silver haired woman, with a lieutenant's badge stooping down so as to not hit her head in the narrow confines of the sewers were approaching him
Shit, a Captain? Here? Now?
Layne was immediately on guard, and he unsheathed his now dual zanpakuto and held them at his sides, the white one with the star shaped tsuba in his normal left hand, and the black one with the crown shaped tsuba in his hollowfied left hand
"I don't particularly want to fight you at all" Layne informed them, his tone tinged with resignation "But I really can't let you get past me"
"Isane" The captain said simply, blinking in Layne's direction
"Yes Captain" The silver haired Lieutenant acknowledged and unsheathed her zanpakuto
"Run, Itegumo!"
The main blade of the zanpakuto extended and became double edged, straight and two small prongs that mirrored the shape of the main blade grew out at forty-five degrees at the base of the main blade
"Now be careful Layne" Roxas warned inside his head "Last time you took on a Shikai without knowing it's abilities, you got slaughtered"
"I know that" Layne muttered to himself "But I don't have a choice, Ichigo is down and out, everyone else is probably too far away… so this is it"
"On the other hand, my ability to keep that bigass slice on your chest is reaching its limit, so you need to finish this quickly"
Layne sighed at the rather unwelcome news that there was a time limit on his fight
"Anything else?"
"You also expended a bit too much reiatsu earlier in Oblivion's first release and I'm not sure you're able to go into Shikai"
"…you really should tell me these things before I rush off out of my hiding spot, time limit, low health and limited power… it's like every bad video game level ever"
Layne sighed and brought his attention back to the two Shinigami, who were watching him oddly as he muttered to himself
Layne felt the perverse need to explain himself, even to what were clearly two enemies
"Sorry… My Zanpakuto" he offered up lamely
Blood began to spurt at the bottom corner of Layne's chest and he grunted with pain
"I really can't let you pass" he repeated, moving into battle stance to hide the pain he felt and willing the wound on his chest to not open up any further
"Isane" the captain repeated
Isane pointed Itegumo at Layne and whispered something
Layne braced himself for whatever it was that was headed his way, but he felt nothing
Roxas simply said "Oh shit" and went silent
The two Shinigami made their way next to Layne and were not even in defensive stances, right within striking distance
Layne willed his arms to move, his legs to kick but it was useless, they were suddenly and completely locked up
"I don't believe Itegumo's ever had this much of an effect ever before" The captain said with interest as she examined Layne's suddenly locked solid form
"It's probably has something to do with the fact his zanpakuto feels like a water element base, while Itegumo is ice, or…" and here Isane blushed and said the rest under her breath "…my training paid off"
The captain smiled gently and returned to examining Layne
Unfortunately for Layne, just because his limbs were locked, didn't mean his reiatsu expenditure was
The wound that Joel had made and Roxas had sealed burst open spectacularly causing Layne to lose conscious, whatever the power of Itegumo, it was unable to keep him up as he collapsed in a pool of rapidly expanding blood.
Kira and a few members of the third division arrived at the scene of the fight of Renji and Joel vs. Layne and Ichigo
His eyes were immediately drawn to the sight of Renji, lying on the floor, slowly bleeding out
"No way…even Renji-kun was defeated" he muttered in shock
"Lieutenant Kira!" One of the unseated Shinigami with him shouted as he searched the area "It looks like there were some people that ran away, should we give chase?"
"No" Kira replied "It's more important that we get Lieutenant Renji out of here… we don't know what condition they're in and with a Lieutenant down there's not much we could do if we caught them"
"Strange" Kira thought to himself as the 3rd division began to work "There's no trace of Lieutenant Bluzer"
Even though his reiatsu saturated the air, along with two other reiatsu's that Kira had felt before
The reason Kira hadn't been able to find Joel is that when Layne had bailed with Ichigo and Hanataro, Nemu had come out of her hiding spot and assessed both Renji's and Joel's injuries
Renji was the more damaged physically, but Joel's reiatsu was still being siphoned by something, more accurately Layne's Oblivion Keyblade
"A sinister weapon" Nemu thought, remembering it, a Gothic looking and so black it seemed to suck in the light surrounding it and apparently the reiatsu of its weakened victim
It was a weapon that Layne couldn't possibly control fully just yet, she concluded, finishing her mental assessment of the situation
And it was currently eating Joel's reiatsu alive, even after Layne had left the immediate area and resealed it
Nemu analysed the effect with her enhanced mind, almost instantaneously
The effect was similar to the Shikai ability of Ayasegawa Yumichika's, Ruri'ro Kujaku but moving at a far slower pace, and there were no vines
"Reversible, but I need to get him back to the 12th division HQ to do so" she concluded to herself
Easily hoisting Joel over her shoulder and retrieving his zanpakuto, she paused for a second to examine it, her eyes narrowing
Wasn't the blade curved originally?
Shaking off her useless thoughts she flashstepped them both to the 12th division
Ichigo woke up in the 4th division headquarters, though he didn't know that, so he attempted to get up and look around but got pushed back down.
"Remain still, Ichigo Kurosaki, you are among friends" someone said
"Where am I?" Ichigo asked groggily
"4th division HQ, in my personal quarters"
The voice sounded female and Ichigo opened his eyes only to see darkness
"I'm blind!" he exclaimed worriedly
The voice giggled "Now, now Ichigo-kun, let me finish dressing this wound and I'll take off the eye covers"
"…"
When the covers were removed Ichigo was shocked
He'd expected the owner of the voice to be a woman, but he hadn't expected her to be wearing a captain's haori
"SHIT!" he practically screamed "You're a capt-" cut off as her hand immediately clamped over his mount
"And you shouldn't scream so loudly Ichigo-kun, unless you want to attract the attention of people who would like to kill you"
Even though she was smiling gently Ichigo felt a sense of extreme fear
"Mmph" Ichigo made the noise as he nodded
"Excellent"
She removed her hand from his mouth and the doors opened and Isane walked in, piggybacking a conscious Layne
"Yo, Ichigo" he said, looking over Isane's shoulder "You look a lot better now"
"Layne!"
"Yo?"
"What happened?"
"You beat that Renji guy"
"I saw you cut down by that other guy"
"Takes more than a cheap trick and a life threatening slash to keep me down" Layne said, grinning, not willing to let on that he'd come very close to actually dying at least twice in the last forty-eight or so hours
"Isane" interrupted the captain "Why are you carrying Trell-kun?"
"Itegumo's freezing effect is still active Captain, probably because of the water nature of his zanpakuto"
Isane set Layne down on a chair and then moved over and stood by her captain
"So what exactly happened to me?" Layne asked
"And who are you two?" Ichigo added
"Let's start easy, shall we Isane?" The captain said gently
"I am Retsu Unohana. Captain of the 4th division and this is my Lieutenant, Isane Kotetsu
"No wonder I couldn't do a thing" Layne murmured to himself, identifying the substantial gap in power between them
"And as for you" Isane took up the explanation "Itegumo is an Ice element zanpakuto, its special ability is to deep freeze, sealing my opponent's movements"
Out loud he just commented "You scared the shit out of me with that, I couldn't move at all"
Isane blushed and turned away, while Captain Unohana smiled and Ichigo chuckled
"Where's Hanataro?" Layne asked, attempting to move his legs "He helped us out a lot, I hope you're not going to punish him… seeing as you helped us out"
"He should be back at work" Isane replied, still looking away
"He's right outside the door, listening to every word we say" Unohana said. Opening the door, and watching as Hanataro tripped and rolled inside the room.
Hanataro got up and smiled sheepishly, "I've brought the item's you asked for Captain"
He held up Zangetsu and both of Layne's zanpakuto
This, more than the actual healing convinced Layne and Ichigo that they were among friends and they glanced at each other
"We need to continue on Layne" Ichigo said
"Yeah"
Layne got up, having regained a measure of control over his legs and stumbled over, grabbed all three zanpakuto, tossed Zangetsu to Ichigo and slung the other two at his sides
"Ready when you are Ichigo" he said, wobbling a little on his feet despite his best efforts
Ichigo noticed, but purposely made no mention of that and simply holstered Zangetsu over his shoulder
"Thanks, Unohana-san, Kotetsu-san, Hanataro" he said has he opened the window and jumped out of it
"So he leaves me to do the proper goodbye" Layne complained, after Ichigo hit the ground "What a punk"
"Be aware, Trell-kun" Unohana stated, causing Layne to direct his attention to her "This is probably the only aid we are able to give you"
"Yeah, but why would you help us out in the first place?" Layne queried "We're invading your Soul Society, busting up your soldiers and just generally making your lives miserable"
Unohana fixed him with a piercing stare, and Layne was silent, suddenly remembering that it's not always wise to look a gift horse in the moth
"There are dark undertones moving through the Seireitei, Three seated officers who are more than they seem, a captain and several other Shinigami have been murdered, and you Ryoka were either too far away… or not invading at the time"
"We're just here to rescue Rukia, we haven't killed anyone... just disabled" Layne replied "We're not murderers"
"Do be careful then, Trell-kun"
Layne nodded, and followed Ichigo out the window
Joel woke up, feeling significant pain and the sensation of being weighed down, restricting his breathing
Nemu noticed his awakening and moved off of him
"Good Morning Joel" she said, in her usual calm manner
Joel decided not to ask why she had been laying on top of him, there were more important things to worry about right now
"Morning Nemu… mind telling me just what happened to me?"
"You lost"
Joel blanched with that memory of being smacked by Layne's two weapons
"I know that, how about after I blacked out? How did I get here… wherever here is?"
"I carried you here, reversed a potentially fatal reiatsu drain, and have been by your side for the two days of your recovery"
"You sat there for two days?"
"Actually" and the normally unemotional Nemu blushed" I was lying next to you for two days
Now it was Joel's turn to blush
"I…"
Just whatever Joel was about to say was cut off by Mayuri bursting into the room at top speed, slamming the door behind him.
"Nemu! You worthless whore!" He shouted upon entering, with what must have been his standard greeting to her
Mayuri was so agitated he didn't even notice Joel lying there
"Research to do…Aizen dead…Tracking Orders… who does the Captain Commander think he is"
"Probably the Captain Commander" Joel muttered under his breath
"Nemu I'm going out on a Ryoka hunt, and I'm taking the data you provided on the two Ryoka Lieutenant Abarai encountered
"Yes Mayuri-sama"
And with that he stormed out, with
"That was unexpected" remarked Joel
"It's to be expected, everyone is on edge. Since Captain Aizen's death"
"Aizen's dead?!" Joel exclaimed "When… how… was it one of the Ryoka?"
"The culprit is unknown… but if you'll allow me to conjecture… I do not believe it was one of the Ryoka… the data simply doesn't support that hypothesis, the two who you and Lieutenant Renji encountered were far too injured after your encounter to have assaulted Aizen, and none of the other Ryoka sightings have been anywhere close enough to where Aizen was found"
"Damn… this just got dangerous" Joel replied grimly
Ichigo and Layne climbed out of the sewers at the same point they had exited yesterday
"Weird, you think they would post guards at the scene of a fight" Layne commented as he looked around, noticing that the corridor was just as empty as it was the last time they'd gone down it
"Well, whatever, Let's get moving, this time we have to make it" Ichigo replied tersely, his eyes fixated on their goal, the large tower of the Senzaikyu
"Hold it Ichigo, how do you think all the others are doing…like… Uryuu and Orihime?
"Both of them are much smarter than I am, they won't fight anyone they can't win against
"Moll?"
"You should have faith in your own friends, but she's with Yoruichi-san, so she's probably the best off out of all of us"
"How about Chad?"
"He's fine"
"You sure?"
"I've felt Chad's presence since we entered the Seireitei… and besides… It's completely unimaginable that Chad would lose to anyone"
Joel got up out of bed, and put on a shihakusho, still in the 12th HQ, feeling almost completely recovered
"Right Nemu, what were the last orders we got?" he asked
"Capture the Ryoka, Captain-class Shinigami only" she replied calmly
"I'll have to apologize to Captain Ukitake later then… If I survive I guess"
Nemu raised an eyebrow in a silent query, having absolutely no idea what he was talking about
Joel slammed his fists together, coming to a decision "Let's go see Renji then"
Nemu sighed, a crush on him she did have, but his spates of what passed from logic were extremely confusing sometimes
Ichigo and Layne ran along an alleyway near the base of the Senzaikyuu
"Good thing those guys were allies Ichigo, I… really couldn't do a thing to stop them"
"Don't worry about it Layne. I was unconscious and you had expended too much reiatsu"
After all the time they had spent together, discussing tactics and avoiding fights Ichigo had completely discarded all his misgivings regarding Layne, and in fact felt as close to him as he did Chad, they were brothers in arms now.
"This time…we'll definitely make it"
Layne nodded his assent and they both quickened their pace
They rounded a corner and both missed a step as an overpowering reiatsu filled the air
"What…the..hell?" Layne choked out "It's like the…reiatsu particles are fused here"
Ichigo just stared in shock at the figure sitting on the roof of a building adjacent to the two
He was grinning inanely and even from that far away Ichigo felt like he had his sword pressed up against his throat
Layne picked himself up, not bothering to hide his reiatsu behind Ichigo's and letting enough out so he felt more at ease
Kenpachi dropped down and stood behind Ichigo and Layne, grinning at the situation
"Yo, kid, you might want to keep that reiatsu hidden, I don't really care but others might take offence to such a hollow-like reiatsu"
"Get going Ichigo" Layne said through gritted teeth, his hands straying towards his Zanpakuto
"What?"
"Get to the Senzaikyuu, Rescue Rukia, Get everyone out, I'll hold this guy off"
"What are you on about?"
Layne was clearly still unsteady from the effects of Itegumo that he had received before and was visibly swaying on his feet, and Ichigo noticed
"Layne…" Ichigo said "You're in no condition for this fight… you rescue Rukia and get everyone out"
Layne sighed, "I'll get going, would have thought that you would want to be the one to save Rukia yourself though"
Layne sped off and Ichigo watched as Kenpachi made no move to pursue
"Aren't you going to chase after him?"
"I don't give a shit about Kuchiki; I just came for a good fight"
"That's good then"
Yoruichi felt the unholy reiatsu and shivered, despite her distance from it
"It's time to move" she said tersely to Moll, who had really done nothing except train and complain during said training
"About fuckin' time" Moll replied irritably, getting up and slinging Sora at her side
"You know the plan right"
"Get Layne while you get Ichigo, and we bring them back to this cave"
"Good luck then"
Yoruichi watched as Moll flashstepped off
"Sorry, Moll" she whispered to herself
Layne felt Moll's reiatsu rise immensely and then fall to a nearly unnoticeable level
"Dammit, got no choice but to press on" he muttered to himself "I hope she's okay"
He spied two guards standing outside a large door, discussing how scary Kenpachi's and Ichigo's reiatsu's were
With a small smirk, Layne jumped down and disabled the first one with a jab to the face
The other one quickly drew his zanpakuto and attempted to cut Layne down but Layne grabbed the zanpakuto with his hollowfied hand and split the blade into three shards, then grabbed the shinigami's shihakusho and tossed him into the wall
Now the only thing that stood between Layne and Rukia was a bigass door
Rukia too had felt Ichigo's reiatsu rise and fell despite the Sekkisekki stone
She felt a wave of despair wash over her at the situation she had put him in
"That idiot should just let me die" she thought miserably
And that's when the door behind her blew open and Layne stepped through and over the chunks of broken door, shaking his hollowfied hand and wincing in pain
"Dam man" he complained "That shitty rock hurts"
Rukia just stared at him in shock
"A..Are you…one of Ichigo's friends?" she managed to stutter out
"You could say that, point of that matter is I'm here to bust you out"
"W..why?
"I don't really know to be honest, I don't know you, and I don't really know Ichigo, but one of two people I thought I did know recently tried to kill me, so I think I'm going to help whoever the hell I choose"
Moving over to the next door Layne continued
"And right now something is telling me that the best way to continue along my new path is…"
He paused and punched through the other door
"…to help Ichigo in whatever way I can" he finished as the door crumbled to pieces in front of him
A powerful reiatsu washed over them as they exited and stood at one end of a bridge
Rukia fell to her knees, unable to move as she was weak from her extended stay in the Senzaikyuu
Layne was unaffected by it and he simply curled his upper lip in disgust as he recognized the owner of the reiatsu
"Hello Layne" Anita said sultrily unsheathing her zanpakuto "Long time no see"
Layne did the same, and watched her impassively as she moved a little closer
"I was surprised to see that it was you and your friends making all this trouble in the Seireitei"
"It's actually more of a surprise to me that you're on the side of the law in this place, than it is for me to actually see you here" Layne replied
"It is a nice change? Isn't it?" she laughed liltingly, her blonde, shoulder length hair blowing slightly in the breeze
"Let's cut the crap, You're here to stop me and I'm going to break through, so why don't we just get it done" Layne said bluntly "I'm absolutely amazed to see you here, It's like I can't fucking get away from you, even in the afterlife… and that pisses me off"
"So rude, but I suppose your directness is one of your attractive points" Anita replied, feigning that his words hurt her
"That's what you said when I got you tossed into jail last year, and before that when you tried to seduce me and I walked out on you"
"Well…whatever" she giggled playfully, brandishing her zanpakuto "I suppose I have to stop you anyway"
She pointed the zanpakuto at him "Make them Fear the Darkness. Kagetsuki!"
Her zanpakuto morphed from a simple katana into two purple gloves with four black daggers with silver edging which she gripped in the gaps between the fingers of her right hand
Layne stamped his foot in an attempt to shake off the last, lingering effect of Itegumo and was pleasantly surprised when his stamp was solid.
Layne returned his attention to Anita in time to easily block her knives with one of his zanpakuto
They clashed for a few seconds with Layne overwhelmingly having the upper hand, before Anita retreated slightly
Layne raised an eyebrow "With your style, the katana would be more appropriate, isn't Shikai meant to work with your best fighting style?
"Or focus on a specific special ability" she replied, smirking as she bounced backwards
Layne frowned. That smirk wasn't an expression you'd expect from someone who's just been pushed back
He felt the killing intent and dodge to the side just in time to turn a debilitating blow from behind into a minor slice of his shihakusho
"What the..?"
Layne checked behind him, not turning his back to Anita, but positioning himself on the bridge that he could defend from both sides
A shadowed figure stood there, resembling a Shinigami brandishing a black katana
"See my shadow creature Layne? This is Kagetsuki's special ability, look a little closer at him Layne"
Layne scrutinized the shadowed figure and was revolted by what he saw
The figure had the exact same face as one of the 11th division members Layne had beaten up a couple of days ago
Layne's frowned, surprised that he recognized the face, but it wasn't anyone he knew particularly well
"You can impersonate anyone?"
"Nothing so refined, I'm afraid"
"Then…what?"
She sighed, "It's probably a big mistake to explain my zanpakuto to you but I've never been able to resist requests from handsome men"
Layne noticed at this point that the number of blades in her right hand had gone from four to three
"Kagetsuki is a special zanpakuto"
She tossed the remaining three blades onto different positions of the bridge, and three more shadowy Shinigami rose where the blades had landed
They all had the visages of different Shinigami, however Layne only recognized the one from behind him
"Shadow Soldiers" breathed Layne
"Are you wondering why they all look like Shinigami?"
"Only a little"
"I killed them, slowly and over time, the one you recognized made the mistake of falling behind his pack, and is now my loyal shadow minion, I've been collecting them"
Layne looked sick as he processed what she was telling him
"You bitch…this…this is monstrous… they're on your side and you're murdering them!"
Anita ignored him and continued to talk
"It would be even better if I could absorb a spirit capable of Shikai, sooo.. why don't I absorb you Layne?"
Layne's reiatsu rose in anger
"Drift! Roxas!"
Layne's katana's disappeared and Oathkeeper and Oblivion appeared in their place with their usual flashes of light
"Why don't you just try it?" he challenged her
Layne charged at Anita and she sent her shadows to intercept, reinforcing them with her reiatsu
Anyone watching the bridge would only have seen deep green, and purple reiatsu's flashing in the air above it as they clashed