"Is this all you've got?" Grimmjow asked bored from the fight but somewhat enjoying it. Byakuya was glaring at him panting heavily, even after he released his Bankai, Grimmjow just wouldn't die at all. "You've gotta be kidding me! This is just like your shikai only on a bigger scale. I'd rather be fighting that other brat right now, but that damned Yammy has him" He smirked at him, waiting for his next move. Byakuya looked down below him to see the bloodied body of the woman who he had vowed to protect. Orihime was already taking care of her; medics from 4th Division had arrived as an emergency call was made to them.
"Bastard" He growled at Grimmjow who hadn't heard him. His intent to kill him was so strong that he subconsciously guided Senbonzakura over towards Grimmjow's direction.
"You're kidding right?" He asked boredly as he dodged and appeared right behind Byakuya. He quickly shielded himself with the petals that were around him. If he hadn't, he would've sustained a fatal wound.
---
"You're supposed to be a lieutenant of the Gotei 13? Your captains can't be that strong at all then" Ulquiorra noted on Renji's fighting abilities. Renji hadn't been able to lay a single scratch on the Espada member whereas Ulquiorra had beaten him up so much; Renji was just a bloodied mess. His Bankai still was intact which had intrigued Ulquiorra by the slightest. "You should know this by now: you don't stand a chance against me" He said expecting Renji to fall over in utter defeat. Renji had been through so much and a simple beating was something he was able to go through. He had survived Byakuya's Bankai after all.
"Don't you dare think lowly of me" He spat out.
"It's amazing that you're even alive, we have a mission and you are merely an obstacle. If you do not step aside, I will kill you and all of your friends" He threatened not moving from his position.
"Heh, you made a big mistake when you knocked out Mika. She hates to see me kill so I hold back whenever she's around. But now she's not conscious, I am confident that I can kill you" He declared raising his arm and then swung down sending Zabimaru towards him.
"Futile" As he sprung forward towards him.
---
"I'm impressed; a young brat like you has mastered Bankai and achieved captaincy. Not too bad" Szayel Aporro praised with a smirk. Hitsugaya was panting heavily; he hadn't expected a researcher to be so strong despite the fact that Szayel Aporro himself said that he wasn't the strongest. It was to be expected after all, he was an Espada member himself. "But, your Bankai is immature isn't it? The ice flowers are slowly disappearing. I believe it is a countdown until when your Bankai falls" He went on observing the 10 remaining petals.
"10 petals left…that's all I need to destroy you!" He roared lunging forward at him with his sword ready to stab Szayel Aporro.
"You don't know when to quit now do you?" He sighed as he dodged it easily.
---
"Is this all you got?" Yammy laughed at Ichigo's attempts to hurt him. "The last time I was here, you couldn't put a scratch on me. I'm amazed you managed to land a blow on me, but you're still the same weak little brat." He went on.
"Damn…he's trying to get out" Ichigo said to himself, the inner hollow within him kept calling out, distracting him from the fight.
"ICHIGO!!! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Rukia asked; she basically saved him 12 times from his problems. "Is it that hollow again?" She wondered, seeing him struggle like that had to be the hollow.
"Don't worry…I'll be fine" He assured her although it sure didn't sound like it. A red glow bathed the two. "What?" He looked up to see Yammy fire a Cero directly at him, he had no time to escape—it was coming fast and it was close.
"ICHIGO!!" Rukia cried out.
---
"Ugh…what happened?" Rina slowly got up only to be met with the seething pain from her abdomen.
"Don't move, you're almost healed" Orihime said, Ayame and Shun'ou said the same to Rina.
"Ok…but what happened?" She asked lying back down.
"You don't remember?" Orihime asked quite stunned; Rina shook her head in response. "Well that Grimmjow guy was the cause of your wounds; he impaled you with his hand, and then threw you down to the earth. Byakuya and him are fighting right now" She was right, Byakuya and Grimmjow were in an intense battle. It was hard to tell who was winning since they received many blows. "SANTEN KESSHUN!" Orihime suddenly cried out, a triangular shield appeared before the two blocking a hollow.
"My zanpakutou…where is it?!" Rina asked the panicked Orihime.
"Um…it's over there" She pointed at her sword that was a long distance away.
"Oh shit…" She mumbled. She tried to get up again only to collapse once more to the pain. "Damn" She cursed. An arrancar showed up smirking at the two's problem. His eyes caught sight of Hanabi. The true purpose of their arrival was merely to retrieve the girls' zanpakutou's. They didn't know why but Aizen needed them though. He lunged forward to it.
"Oh no!" Orihime saw the arrancar take the weapon. "What should we do?" She asked.
"Don't worry, it'll be alright" She assured looking intently at the arrancar.
"What are you talking about? It's getting away!" She retorted, shocked at her reaction. Suddenly it howled out in agony. "Huh? What's going on?" She looked to the side only to see the arrancar's hand which held the weapon engulfed in black flames.
"Hanabi is very picky, she only allows me to handle her. All others who try to take possession only get burned to death by her." Rina explained as the flames advanced to the rest of the arrancar's body. "Even if you release her, the flames won't disappear until you die" She finished as the arrancar was completely engulfed in flames. Just as she said, the flames disappeared once the arrancar was no more.
"What the hell?" Grimmjow had just witnessed the death of the arrancar. "Damn, this will be harder than we thought" He glared at the zanpakutou which lay on the earth, just mocking them. A piercing pain coursed throughout his body again, while he was sight-seeing the earth below, Byakuya took the opportunity to harm Grimmjow.
"Even though you are an Espada, you're pretty stupid aren't you?" Byakuya asked slightly smirking. Senbonzakura smothered Grimmjow into a cocoon, thus piercing him at every angle.
---
"That idiot Grimmjow, he's gonna get himself killed" Ulquiorra noted when he sensed Grimmjow's reiatsu decrease slightly.
"I don't know what's going on, but pay attention!!" Renji yelled swinging Zabimaru over.
"Looks like we're gonna have to pull out" He murmured, jumping out of Zabimaru's range. He disappeared from Renji's sight.
"Where did he--?" He wondered looking around him.
---
"5 petals remain, you're not going to make it" Szayel Aporro sneered.
"It doesn't matter, you're not in the best condition either" He remarked at Szayel Aporro's now beaten and bloodied body. Suddenly Ulquiorra appeared at his side. "Two?! There's no way I can take both on!" Hitsugaya was paralyzed with fear. They suddenly disappeared. "What the--?" He wondered looking around, seeing no one he descended down to where Tori lay. "How is she?" He asked as his Bankai fell.
"She's in stable condition, she'll make it" One of the medics informed relieving Hitsugaya. His eyes wandered over to Hitofuki.
"Her zanpakutou…what is it really?" He wondered recalling a memory when Hitofuki sliced up an arrancar who tried to steal it.
---
"They…left!" Rukia gasped as she felt their reiatsu disappear. It was sudden, 2 of the Espada had shown up at Yammy's side whispering something to him. Then they just left.
"Damn! How much stronger do I need to be?!" Ichigo cursed under his breath, punching the ground.
"Ichigo, just be grateful you're still alive. You'll have another chance!" She went over to his side to comfort him.
"Yeah, I guess"
---
"Why did they just leave?" Renji wondered as he and everyone else gathered around. "It makes no sense at all. What was their purpose?" He asked.
"I think they wanted to take our zanpakutou's" Rina said remembering the arrancar.
"But why? Aizen is strong enough with his Kyouka Suigetsu. Why would he want your guys' zanpakutou's?" Ichigo asked.
"Maybe cuz they're awesome" Mika piped up who was now conscious and was able to walk without falling over.
"Other than that…" Ikkaku mumbled.
"We'll probably never know" Rangiku said quietly. "Further more; what was that technique your zanpakutou's used to get rid of their captors?" She asked them. The 3 shrugged.
"They've always been like that" Tori said. "They're I guess 'picky' of whoever is wielding them"
"Your zanpakutou's are creepy" Renji said as others agreed.
"Hey! They can hear you ya know!" Mika scolded.
"Psh yeah right, you guys don't even listen" Hitsugaya agreed with Renji.
"We do listen! We just choose not to listen to you guys" Rina said back.
"Well prove to us that they have been listening to the whole conversation" Ichigo smirked confidently.
"Well, it's up to them if they wanna make an appearance, not us" Mika said.
"Can't be that hard" He said grabbing Hanabi from Rina's hand.
"Ichigo!! You idiot!!" Rukia yelled at him.
"What?" He asked clueless until the flames engulfed his hand. "AAH!! What the hell is this?!" He shrieked.
"If you were listening, you would know" Rina rolled her eyes as his girly screams grew louder and louder.
"Tell her to stop it!" He yelped.
"Um…Hanabi, stop it? Ok, he's an idiot for grabbing you, and he's an arrogant jerk. But sadly we need his help so quit burning him? Please?" Rina attempted to get Hanabi to stop. Luckily for Ichigo she did, leaving him a charred black arm.
"Oh Kurosaki-kun! Let me take care of it" Orihime piped up as she healed Ichigo's arm back to its original state.
"I'm an arrogant jerk?!" He asked clearly angry.
"Uh yeah!" Mika answered him. He grumbled something nobody could understand.
"I'm not an idiot though!!" He growled.
"That we know you are one" Rukia stated.
"She's right"
"Yup"
"Well, it's to be expected after all he is the son of Isshin"
3 separate feminine voices spoke out.
"Who's there?!" All of them (except the 3 girls) asked getting into their fighting stances.
As if on cue, a fire ball burst out of nowhere, a strong wind blew through and a great amount of water swirled in.
"Been a while ne?" The fireball died down revealing a 5-tailed wolf with black flames on its tails and legs.
"Sure has" Rina answered.
"Wow, when was the last time I came here?" The howling wind died down, something formed out of it. It had a serpent for a tail, two sets of legs from different species of animals. It had two heads—one resembled a lion, the other a goat. Hitofuki was a chimera.
"I don't think you ever came to this world" Tori pointed out.
"Oh yeah…never mind me then!"
"And you said I was stupid Hitofuki" The water formed into a very large bat. "Who's the idiot now?" She asked.
"Shut up Bakufu!!" Hitofuki snarled.
"Hey, have your little fight somewhere else okay?!" Mika advised.
"Whoa" The group said in awe from the 3 spirits before them.
"Oh yeah, you guys are here" Tori said remembering the people they were with, getting a gleeful smirk from Hitofuki.
"Yeah go us idiots!!" Hitofuki raised a paw for a high five.
"YEAH!! IDIOTS ROCK!!" Tori slapped Hitofuki's paw happily.
"And what does that make us 'smart' ones?" Hitsugaya asked.
"Uh…morons?" Hitofuki suggested.
"Careful what you say, the last thing we want is a midget attacking us" Bakufu said earning a glare from Hitsugaya.
"You're one to talk" Hanabi spoke up.
"What?"
"Wow, and they say we talk too much" Rina said to her 2 other friends who nodded, agreeing.
"Wait, why did we come out again?" Bakufu wondered.
"You don't know?!" Rukia asked in disbelief, the 3 spirits shook their heads.
"Well, leave then" Ichigo said quite rudely earning a whack from one of Hanabi's fiery tails.
The 3 spirits left, the group was still stunned. "Hey, that's not fair! The last time Zabimaru came out, he gave me a lecture!!" Renji whined.
"HA! Loser!!" Mika pointed at him laughing. He gave her a glare but shrugged it off.
---
4th Division medics continued to treat the injured—basically everyone. Orihime pitched in as well to take care of the most fatal wounds; it had benefited the shinigami that she was an ally. Yoruichi and Urahara who had saved Ichigo from Yammy (again) decided to leave as they weren't much help in the medical department. Ichigo was getting a lecture from Rukia about how weak he was against the hollow inside him or something. Tori pointed out to Toshiro that his hair looked quite pink from the blood that had landed on his snow white hair. He of course wasn't happy with it so he cleaned it out with the water from Hyourinmaru. Renji was rubbing in the fact that Mika was knocked out of the battle so fast to her. She obviously wasn't happy with him so she whacked him up-side the head which shut him up. Yumichika was complaining at his clothes being dirty and how the hollows/arrancar had messed up his hair. Ikkaku told him to stuff it but that got Yumichika to whine even more. Tatsuki, Asano, and Mizuiro were perfectly fine now that the arrancar had left, continued to spy on the group of shinigami. Many women of 4th Division promptly swooned and then fainted at the sight of the topless men. They gave them strange looks and inched away a bit. Rina who was healing Byakuya was staring at Matsumoto strangely as she was complaining that she forgot her camera.
"I'm missing such a good opportunity!!" She whined, people just didn't care at all and ignored her.
"She's such a ditz" Tori commented on Matsumoto's little tantrum. People around her agreed.
"What a bunch of freaks" Renji stated when women agreed with Matsumoto. They then went on saying that they were so lucky and such. While other women like Rukia and Orihime didn't care at all saying that the women had problems and were hopeless. Of course, the women we're talking about are the rabid fan-girls of these men.
"I'll never understand women" Byakuya stated. Rina gave him a look but said that some women were just strange and demented.
"…So you came back empty-handed?" Aizen asked as the arrancar returned to Hueco Mundo. They nodded shamelessly at their failed mission.
"If we had taken their zanpakutou's, we would've died on the spot—not even making it back here" Ulquiorra explained what had happened to the victims of the zanpakutou's.
"I thought as much" He muttered. He knew that a task like that wasn't going to be so hard. The zanpakutou's were special in their own way—they were able to control their element. If Aizen had gotten hold of them, he would be known as invincible since fire, water and wind were recognized as the strongest elements--as in you couldn't 'cut' them. But, the girls themselves didn't know of the potential their own weapons had, so they were even for the time being.
"Oh Rangiku shut it already!!" Tori yelled out to her during the next school day. "It doesn't matter anyways!!" She added on punching her on the side of her head.
"But Tori!!" She whined and put on a tearful face. "How would you feel if you lost your dreams of getting something?" She asked her.
"Actually" She started, stopping her punches. "I wouldn't really care at all" She answered getting a shocked reaction from Rangiku.
"Are you for real?! You don't care?!" She asked shocked. Tori nodded. "That's inhumane!! That's not possible at all!!!" She started pacing back and forth yelling out.
"Sure it is" Tori said boredly. "Just look at us" Tori pointed to her Mika and Rukia.
"Well I can understand for Rukia. If she just swooned and fainted at the sight of Byakuya…" Rangiku said to be interrupted by Rukia who was enraged.
"That's disturbing!!!That's sick!! That's disgusting!! That's just wrong!! That's incest!!! THAT'S. JUST. MESSED!!!" She yelled out at her.
"That's... what I'm talking about" Rangiku pointed out as Rukia had just taken the words from her mouth.
"Hmpf!" She huffed looking away from her. "You didn't have to say it though!" She yelled then stormed over to Ichigo who was a little terrified by her outburst.
"oooOOOOoooo" Renji and the men cooed when she went over to Ichigo. They both shot them an icy glare which shut them up and made them hide behind the women.
"Wimps" Mika commented at their pathetic retreat.
"Shut up!! Did you see how they looked at us?!" Renji pointed at the two who kept their glare.
"Yeah, it's called you're interfering!!" Tori informed him.
The school day ended fast since, they came in during lunch and just fell asleep during all of the classes.
"MID-TERMS?!" Mika whined. "Come on!! We don't have to know this stuff to have a future! Just look at us!!" Mika went on pointing at all of them.
"Not exactly the strongest point considering all we do is chop down clown-faced ghosts" Tori whispered.
"WHATEVER!!"
---
Ichigo and Rukia went back to Ichigo's home to be greeted by his family oh-so kindly. Ichigo was as usual in a fight with his father and Rukia had a warm 'welcome home' from Yuzu and Karin. Kon was delighted to see Rukia but not Ichigo.
"I can feel the love" Ichigo stated sarcastically since no one bothered to give him a 'welcome home' or 'how was your day?'
"Aww…don't worry it'll come…eventually" Rukia cooed patting his head.
"Rukia!!" He growled infuriated that she was treating him like he was 9. She silenced him by kissing him on the cheek.
"Nee-san!!" Kon gasped. "Can I have one too?!" He asked full of hope and joy.
"NO!" She stuffed him in Ichigo's closet.
"Why are people so mean?" He wept in the darkness of Ichigo's closet.
---
"What do you want for dinner tonight Rangiku-san?" Orihime asked preparing their meal.
"How about what we had last night, you know the red bean stuff?" Rangiku suggested while Tori and Hitsugaya's gagged and coughed silently. "Hmm? You guys say something?" Rangiku turned her head the two who were sitting silently giving an innocent smile. Rangiku shrugged then turned away; Tori and Hitsugaya continued gagging behind her back. Orihime returned shortly with their dinner.
"Umm…" Tori started, seeing their meal for the night she wasn't hungry any more. "We'll be outside if you need us!" She quickly finished then dashed out of the house and climbed onto the roof. Hitsugaya followed her quickly in order to save his taste buds.
"I don't get how they could like that stuff" Hitsugaya murmured staring up at the full moon.
"I know it's probably a 'triple-B' thing." Tori stated sitting on the roof mesmerized by the glow of the moon. Hitsugaya sat beside her and pulled her closer.
"Triple-B?" He asked not understanding.
"Big-Breasted Bimbo's" Tori explained, Hitsugaya twitched slightly. "What's wrong Twitchy?" She asked him who stopped his twitchiness.
"N-Nothing" He answered. She sighed and leaned on his shoulder.
"I'm hungry" She said.
"Well you might want to ignore it or go find something to eat before those two drag us back down there." He advised.
She didn't answer knowing it was best just to skip out on the red bean goodness than to kill her taste buds. Tori didn't have anything against red-bean dishes, Orihime just prepared them too often and the taste was too familiar.
"I'm sorry" He said suddenly.
"Huh?" She wondered why he had just apologized.
"I couldn't protect you, you could've died" He explained with a mournful face. He turned to her looking at her in the eyes. His green eyes seemed to glow from the moonlight. "I swear that I won't let anything else happen to you" He swore clutching her hand tightly. She was speechless; he never would say something so serious to her. Well except the time she went to Hueco Mundo but only because people had a 90 percent chance of dying.
"Um…"
"What?"
"You're kinda killing my hand" She said motioning at her hand that was squeezed so tightly, blood wasn't flowing through.
"Oh whoops" He quickly removed his hand from hers.
"Hey Tori-chan! Toshiro-kun!! Come down and eat!!" Orihime yelled up to them. Both shuddered but hesitantly descended.
---
"Want seconds Isoro-dono (Mr. Freeloader)?" Jinta asked with a smirk.
"Hey you shouldn't make fun of him!!" Mika scolded smacking the red-head on the head.
"Ow…I was just asking!!" He retorted rubbing his head.
"Well, I'd love to but…" Renji knew Jinta wanted him to have seconds just to prove that the name 'Isoro' was fit for him. "I'll pass"
"You sure?" Mika asked. "Cuz there's no way I'm gonna go out and buy ramen for you again. You practically drained my wallet!!" She said. Renji's face paled a bit.
"N-No I'm fine!" He assured.
"Somehow I don't think you're telling the truth" She muttered.
"Psh, you're one to talk" He said back earning himself a glare.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked slamming her bowl on the table, causing everyone else to jump.
"Well, you're the one who said that you could kick my ass" He started, giving her a meaningful glare.
"Well it's true cuz I did! Rina knows that too cuz she had to treat you back to health!!" Mika said. Jinta snickered.
"Yeah, but I'm guessing that I'm 10 times stronger than you cuz you got kicked out of the battle with the arrancar pretty quickly" He smirked.
"Hey I could take you on anytime you want!!" She challenged.
"Oh really?"
"YEAH!"
"Ok, how bout right here, right now?!" He asked standing up.
"You're on!!" She accepted standing up as well.
"How bout you guys go downstairs?" Urahara suggested fearing that the two of them would destroy his shop.
"Fine!" They both agreed and left their gigai's heading for the underground training area.
"So…who's up for seconds?" Urahara asked when they were out of earshot.