a/n - Sup guys, 15 document limit aye, you learn something every day -_- XD
"So seeing as we didn't get to do any catching up yesterday, or the day before" Joel said with a grin "Here I am"
"Shouldn't you be out looking for Kira?" Layne asked blankly
Joel chuckled "Are you kidding? After you got busted up we decided to hang back till you got better" he leaned in conspiratorially and whispered "You and Ichigo made some friends in the Soul Society that last time around, it's a mark of their respect for you that they'll keep from moving while one of you is injured"
Layne was genially touched "How'd they know that Ichigo wanted to be the one to get that woman"
Joel shrugged "More importantly, she passed out after that Mi Gai Dageki thing that blew you up, so she's probably moving less than you should be"
The weirdest part of that attack Kira had thrown at Layne is while the explosion was real flashy and all, it hadn't injured Layne that much, until he had gone to be patched up and he suddenly lost about two liters of blood from wounds that just spontaneously opened
"I told you, I let my reiatsu soften and the wounds opened up; no big deal" Layne replied, almost predictably
Joel shook his head,
Typical Layne, jackass won't admit he's injured until you poke your finger through the hole in his hand
The two of them, were sitting on the floor of Layne's living room, with the music blaring out some Soilwork.
Layne was wearing a pair of blue shorts and a blank grey shirt which did little to hide the bandages all over his upper body and vaguely keeping in time with the music by tapping his hand on his also bandaged knee, Joel in contrast was in a black and white checked hoodie, long grey shorts and staring intently at a brown and white checked board on the ground in between them
"I know Rangiku-san said to wait till she got here, but I want to start now" Joel muttered
"What are you talking about?" Layne asked slightly alarmed "What about Matsumoto, isn't she staying at Orihime's?"
The front door burst open behind them, and Layne turned to see Matsumoto, Nemu, Ikkaku, Hisagi and Renji walk through, the latter three all heavily laden with shopping bags full of clothes and sake bottles
"What the hell?" Layne exclaimed
"Alright punks! Move all the clothes to my room, and the sake to the kitchen
"Yes ma'am"
Ikkaku, Renji and Hisagi all sighed with strangely visible white mushroom clouds, and moved up the stairs and down the hall
"Wait, wait" Layne stood up and walked over "Just what is going on?"
Matsumoto looked at him blankly "Didn't you say we could stay here?"
Layne glared at Joel who fidgeted with the shirt of his gigai "I might have said something along those lines… but hear me out"
"I'm listening"
"Well Matsumoto was going to stay at Orihime's but it turns out Orihime got kicked out of her place, so I said you'd be cool with her having Moll's old room"
"Nemu?"
"Urahara swore that he wasn't having anything of Kurotsuchi's that might have a secret trigger switch to go nuts and kill him within a two kilometer radius"
"And the other three?"
"Hisagi could have stayed at Chad's but Rangiku-san wanted him at the party, and Urahara wouldn't have Renji or Ikkaku either"
Layne's mind fixated on only one of the words
"Party… so that's why you pulled out the board" Layne said with a grin
Layne turned to Matsumoto "Go ahead and stay in Moll's old room"
She smiled at him and went to join Hisagi, Renji and Ikkaku in unpacking her clothes and Layne turned to address Nemu
"I have no clue what room your staying in, but you can go dump your things there"
Nemu gave him a tight smile and went to Joel's room
Layne watched her choice of room and shook his head
Perverted Thoughts… must stop perverted thoughts
"But they are sooo fun"
Shut the hell up
He walked back over to Joel and sat down "Come on Joel, its two thousand years too early for you to be thinking that you can beat me at Shotglass Checkers"
"That was before we came here" Joel replied, getting up and going around the other way into the kitchen "I've gotten a lot stronger since we came to this place, with all these drinking occasions that Rangiku-san likes to have…even if It is only sake, hell I don't actually remember the three days after you left Soul Society
Layne sweatdropped
He says it like it's a good thing
"Oi" Joel called from the kitchen "Did you move the stash?"
"Nope" Layne replied, listening as Hisagi, Ikkaku and Renji trudged down the stairs, with the huge load of sake "It's in the other cupboard"
"Ah"
Joel returned to the living room with two bottles and a pack of twenty-four clear shotglasses
"How did you know I was looking in the wrong cupboard?"
"You've done it every single time you go to tap the stash, why should now be any different?"
Joel opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it as he realized he had asked that question more times than he could remember
''Anyway… do you remember the rules?"
"Please, it's only been about a month since we last played… ordinary game of checkers, if you lose a piece you take a drink, and if you lose the game you drink all remaining pieces on the board… as I recall it's an instant hammerer"
Joel was done setting out the glasses so Layne grabbed the bottle of clear gin and started filling up his own pieces, while Joel took the brown bottle and filled up his own
"This is for all the humiliation I've suffered at your hands Layne, it's a shame Moll isn't here to see me finally kick your ass"
Everyone else that was going to be staying the night at Layne's place entered the living room with the biggest load of alcohol Layne had ever seen outside a bottle-o
"Anyone vomit's and they clean it up themselves" he warned them, before turning back to the game
"It's a shame Moll isn't here to see my hundredth win to be honest Joel"
The next morning Layne walked down from his room to look upon the chaos that was last night
He, Matsumoto (who had an inhuman tolerance for the stuff, somehow making it into bed without vomiting, despite drinking more than Layne, Renji, Ikkaku and Hisagi combined) and Nemu (who was genetically designed to process most poisons without being affected) had been the only ones to make it to a bed last night, crawling, stumbling, and walking normally in that order
Joel was completely screwed up, having lost the first game of Shotglass Checkers, and then idiotically demanding another one.
Layne grinned, despite what his headache said, he'd only ended up drinking eight shots of gin, and possibly one of those sake bottles that had been brought
The door opened and Layne winced as it connected with the wall, the small bang become hyper enhanced and sounded like a mortar fired off right next to his head
"What the hell…Ichigo?"
"Sorry for intruding" Ichigo greeted walking through the threshold into the house, and then jumping back in surprise as he saw Renji, Hisagi, Ikkaku and Joel all passed out in the mess that was formerly known as Layne's living room "Whoa, what the hell happened here!" he exclaimed
"We had a few drinks…and drinking games" Layne admitted "I'm not exactly sure why, but I had to allow it when I realized my championship at Shotglass Checkers was getting challenged"
Ichigo sweatdropped "Is that really what you should be doing while you're injured?"
"Oh that?" Layne replied and pulled one of the bandages on his arm off "Fully healed!
Ichigo stared in amazement
This guy's recuperative ability is amazing
"Anyway" Layne continued, "What did you come down here for? It probably wasn't to view the results of our drinking sesh"
"Ah, I came to ask you guys to get up and get moving, we're going out today to search for Kira"
Layne glanced at his living room… then at Ichigo… then at the living room again
"Nemu can go now, Matsumoto in about an hour, me in two, but I don't actually know if those four will be good for the rest of the week"
They all left Layne's house in just under an hour and a half, turns out Matsumoto had some miracle hangover cure that woke all of them up and told their headaches to get stuffed
Outside the store, they rendezvoused with Chad, Orihime and Uryuu and were just about to get moving when Layne realized he was missing something
"Oh Goddammit"
Everyone looked at him quizzically
"You guys go ahead; I need to go get my other Zanpakuto"
He ran back through the store, jumped down the hatch, not bothering to waste time with the ladder
The sky darkened, signaling the telltale opening of a Senkai gate, but the person closest to it was currently occupied with other things, so Rukia stepped through it without anyone noticing at all
Unluckily for her, she didn't notice the closest person was quickly approaching her at a dangerous velocity
"I forgot the drop was so fucking long!" Layne shouted as he fell through the air into the underground basement…landing on top of Rukia and creating a huge cloud of dust
"Ouch" Layne kept repeating as he picked himself up
Rukia's fist connected with his face
"What the hell are you doing!"
Layne stumbled backwards and got a look at who hit him
"You're…Rukia!"
"What in God's name were you doing Layne?" Rukia growled at him
"I was going to get my other Zanpakuto" Layne explained "Everyone else is going out to search for Kira and I left one of them behind like some kind of dumbass…" he trailed off
Rukia meanwhile was laughing "You left your Zanpakuto behind? If I don't take into account that your only sixteen, that's would be a pretty idiotic thing for a strong Shinigami like you to do"
"Left only one… left one behind … THAT'S IT!"
His sudden exclamation shocked Rukia and made her shut up
"What's it!"
"I was wondering how Kira knew Ichigo and I knew Bankai" Layne explained excitedly "It wasn't too much of a worry how she knew the find us, because Ichigo couldn't hide his reiatsu to save his life… but then she told us to use Bankai yesterday… and that made no sense because she's supposed to have been cut off from contact from the Soul Society… at least that's what we were told"
Layne began pacing in front of her while Rukia's expression steadily changed from slight confusion to full blown WTF
"It's most definitely a spy in Soul Society" Layne mused "There couldn't honestly be any other way"
For the second time that day, Rukia's fist connected with Layne's face
"Slow down!" she fumed "And explain just who this Kira is!"
"Why are you here if you're not here about Kira?" Layne asked "That's the current 'thing' now right?"
"I was ordered down here to take back my old position… and cleanse hollows; I don't know a thing about this 'Kira' you're talking about"
That's right… this is probably restricted information to lieutenants and above
"Look I don't have time to explain right this second" Layne said hurriedly "Can you do one of those weird gatey thingies and get us to Soul Society, and I'll explain as we run through that weird Kouryuu current place"
"You've done that before?!"
Layne looked at her blankly "The way you're saying that makes me think that there's another way to do it"
"Hell Butterflies"
"Whatever, get a couple of those things here and I'll go get my other Zanpakuto so we can go and find this guy"
"Why do you have to come?" Rukia asked, as Layne began running off
Layne turned around "Because, I don't think anyone is going to take kindly to the idea that one of their squad members is betraying Soul Society"
Above in Karakura town, Layne's absence hadn't gone unnoticed by everyone, who had split into several groups to make covering the entire town easier
One such group consisted of Ichigo, Hisagi and Uryuu, in the northeastern corner of Karakura
"Kurosaki!"
"What? Ishida?" Ichigo replied, irritably
"There's someone coming" Hisagi said lowly, placing a hand on his Zanpakuto
"Well, well" One of Kira's goons said, coming around the corner, lifting her deep brown hair from her eye line "Thanks for bringing the Quincy to us, that saves us the trouble of going to look for him"
Ichigo pulled Zangetsu from his back and pointed it at her "He's staying right here"
"Aww, don't force me to fight you guys" she pouted
In response Hisagi unsheathed his Zanpakuto and Uryuu generated his spirit bow, Pre-Sanrei glove form
She sighed and drew the Zanpakuto that was attached to the hip of her jeans
"Well before we get fighting, what are your names?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki"
"Uryuu Ishida"
"Hisagi Shuuhei"
"Oh" The girl grinned "I'm Emi Etsuko, and this is my Zanpakuto… Bite the Moon in Two, Enkaiookami!"
In the South-eastern corner, Joel and Nemu were wandering along a strangely deserted back street, when another of Kira's people jumped down in front of them
They both went to combat positions immediately but the guy held up his hands
"Guys, guys, you don't have the Quincy with you so I don't really have to fight with you"
Joel eyed his stance and his shihakusho "Then why show yourself to us at all?"
The guy grinned, his deep blue eyes reflecting the sun as he tilted his head back a little
"I'm here because I love fighting and you" he said pointing at Joel "Look like you could give me a good run"
Joel thought for a second "Alright then, you don't look like you would let me past to go help my friends anyway so…"
"Alright!"
The guy pulled a large nodachi from behind his back "Die and be Reborn, Kaen Toreitai!"
The north-western corner, in contrast to the other two, was quite busy, so Ikkaku and Renji had to use Hoho to walk on the air, a few meters above the crowds
One of the crowd below however, was staring up at the sky, able to see the both of them perfectly
"Let's give them a surprise, eh Sai?
In the very last corner of Karakura, the Southwestern one, Chad, Orihime and Matsumoto were lost, and arguing (at least Orihime and Matsumoto were) about just where exactly they were
"Gah, youss don't even look like youss are trying to look for usss" a slightly serpentine voice sounded off
The last of Kira's five friends appeared behind them, but it hadn't been her that had talked, rather the hilt of the huge Zanpakuto she was holding upside down… it was a Snake
"Is this one of them, Rangiku-san?" Chad asked, forming the Right Arm of the Giant
"Yes" answered Matsumoto, pulling Haineko free from the sheath at her back
"Good"
Without warning, Chad unleashed an energy blast from his arm, startling everyone, including Kira's friend who dodged the blast, but not before it scorched a huge part of her blue jacket
She inspected the burn, and her face contorted into an expression of rage
"Jacket…Burn…You…Death!" She choked out, grabbing her Zanpakuto by both hands and charging forward
"Atta girl Tsssubaki!" the hilt shouted "Ssshow them the prissse of becoming enemiesss of Tsssubaki and Sssendo Hebi!"
"Goddammit" growled Layne "How in god's name are you supposed to extricate yourself from these stupid things"
Rukia couldn't help but laugh at the strange sight presented in front of her
The way to use a hell butterfly to go through the Kouryuu Currents is to merge temporarily with the butterfly so it guides your Soul to the other side
Once you were through, you just needed to unmerge with the hell butterfly
Hence, Layne's head and shoulders on the ground, crushing one of those innocent hell butterflies
Layne turned out to be unable to extricate himself fully, while the process was similar to removing a soul from a gigai, Layne had never done it manually, always with the assistance of a gikon, Urahara's cane or Substitute badge
"Come on now" Layne said to Rukia, exasperated "This is a serious problem!"
Rukia calmed down a little and was only slightly giggling
"Maybe if you only had one Zanpakuto like the rest of us your spirit wouldn't be so heavy"
"Low blow"
"Not as low as you are at the moment" Rukia said, then burst out laughing again
Layne sweatdropped
This humor is horrible
"You're damned right; gag this one if we ever bang her"
What the fuck?
Layne shook his head "Just help me out of here!"
A couple of minutes later, a fully whole Layne walked away from a very relieved hell butterfly
"If I was an angry guy" he said slowly to Rukia, still giggling "I would be pretty angry at you right now"
They turned the corner into a typical Seireitei walkway, with a few Shinigami going about their business
"Let's flashstep, this sort of thing is important information" Layne decided out loud, before disappearing
"Wait, Layne!" Rukia called after him "You still haven't explained about the traitor!" she yelled before disappearing also
At the end of that alley, two Shinigami watched as Layne and Rukia rounded the corner, and then both disappeared after a few words
"How about that Ren" Jankz said, "They know there's a traitor here in the Soul Society, do you think Kira flat out told him because she thought he was going to die?"
The Shinigami called Ren shook his head "No, Kira wouldn't of been so idiotic, it's more likely she let off a chance remark about something she couldn't of known about unless she was acquainted with events here… and they picked up on it"
"Well, if that's the case, then we should really do something about it" Jankz said, standing up "Hang here and I'll go kill those two"
Ren stood up also, but pushed Jankz back to the ground "No, I realize, Archepel that you have been thirsting for a good fight since Ikkaku Madarame left to join the 'Kira Hunting Squad'"
Ren cracked his knuckles, and moved his head from side to side, eliciting several loud snaps from his neck
"But that guy isn't someone you would be able to beat with just pure brute strength… you need variables, changing battle conditions, a way to keep him off balance"
"So?" Jankz asked, looking unimpressed
"I'll do it you idiot" Ren replied irritably
"Coulda said that from the start"
a/n - 21 (whistles a small victory tune) ahh a decent milestone to have achieves don't you guys think?
and still going strong
When you picture Chad taking his shot at Tsubaki, do yourself a favor and play "Dominio Del Chad - Shiro Sagisu", it's the Chad theme from the anime, and it fits that scene perfectly XD
and no Ren isn't an idiot... but Jankz seems to be the type to be a pain in the ass
R&R kgo =D
till next time, cyarrss