Ahem, I know there's been some issue about AN notes in the story, so in this story, the AN notes will NOT BE PRESENT! hears cheering yay! So, they'll all be at the bottom. Yes, you love me. Anyways, the long awaited beginning to shinigami vs shinobi! BEGIN!
After this annoying disclaimer of course.
I don't own bleach, like I said from the beginning.
Dust drifted in big clouds around the training area, covering most of the building. Rukia lowered her shield. Hitsugaya did likewise with his.
"Is everyone alright?" the little captain asked.
There were a few coughing and swatting at the dust, but it seemed like they had all survived. Hitsugaya looked warily at the training ground. Something was not right. He would bet his zanpakutou that it was Aizen. Slowly, he approached the railing, his steps making hollow sounds on the wood. He peered over.
Hitsugaya pulled out Hyourinmaru just in time to block a well aimed kunai. The kunai landed uselessly near the railing. The captain prepared for another attack. He watched with his icy eyes as the dust receded from his attacker. Could it be…?
It was Shikamaru. Or was it? He was squatting on the railing, with a grin on his face, but his face… it wasn't right. Hitsugaya squinted. Then, he stood there, amazed and horrified.
Shikamaru had a jelly-like fluid all over his face, covering most of his features except for his eyes. Even they had changed too, from emitting boredom to pure brutality. Like a Hollow. Hitsugaya scowled as the disgusting jelly dripped distastefully from Shikamaru. Shikamaru smiled, baring his newly acquired teeth.
"Hello…. Kid."
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Rukia was in a similar situation. She had lost sight of the main group when another giant dust cloud rolled in behind her. She had learned also that you should not run around aimlessly in an unfamiliar setting. So, she had decided to stay put where she was, with Sode no Shirayuki. But, this turned out to be dangerous too.
Currently, someone was attacking her with shurikens. And she couldn't tell from where. She swore under her breath, blocking yet another one. She needed to be prepared. But how could she with an enemy like this? Rukia tried to clear her head, coming up with possibilities on who could be attacking her.
They had to be a shinobi, since no Hollow or shinigami carried around shurikens. However, it was almost unlikely since it was announced that shinigami were politically important to Konoha. Also, the shinobi didn't seem like the type to randomly attack people. Unless…
"Who could you be, girl? Or are you a boy?"
Rukia turned around quickly. The sight ran through her mind like a déjà vu. It was the blonde from before, except that she had changed. Significantly. The white substance on her face dripped and constantly slid off, but it never truly decided to remove itself from her face. The black eyes, rimmed red around the eyes, didn't blink. The blonde smirked, showing off the sharp cannibalistic teeth in the process. Rukia's hand trembled. The body was normal, it was just the face. Only the face. Only the face was a Hollow.
Kaien-dono…
"Shall we start?"
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Ukitake coughed. "Shunsui?" He reached out his hand to a familiar pink kimono. The captain turned around. "Ah? Jyuushiro? Are you alright?" Ukitake coughed and nodded at the same time. Shunsui frowned. It wasn't going to be pretty if his illness took over now. He searched the surrounding, though it was useless with all the dust. "Nanao-chaaaan? Nanao-chaaaan!" There was no answer. His frown deepened. This was one of the worst situations he could ever be in. His hand strayed to the hilt of one of his zanpakutou. Ukitake, getting over his coughing fit, did the same.
Something moved in the dust, causing an unnatural shift in their drifting. Shunsui's and Jyuushiro's eyes followed this. They waited. Jyuushiro dodged a kunai, which cut off some strands of his hair. Shunsui also dodged one, which cut his straw hat into half. Shunsui watched as his favorite hat fell onto the wooden board. It was the one that Nanao-chan had given him. He gripped the hilt tightly. The attacker would pay for more than just the hat.
Then, as if it were planned, the dust lifted at one part of their line of sight. The figure walked towards them. The figure stopped. The two captains stood still, anticipation running through their blood. Long black hair blew in the wind. A Hollow mask stared back at them. Shunsui gaped, intrigued. Emotionless white eyes looked directly at his prey.
"Byakugan."
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"What's with all this dust?"
Ichigo brushed the dust off his hair for the millionth time. Renji shook his ponytail to get rid of the dust. "If you weren't so thick, I bet you could figure it out." Ichigo glared. Just because they were in danger, didn't mean that they couldn't argue.
"Yeah? Then what is with all the dust Renji?"
Renji paused, lost for an explanation. Before Ichigo could bask in his helplessness, Renji blurted out the first thing on his mind.
"It's dust season."
Ichigo stopped and stared. "What?" Renji started to get flustered. O shit… "I said it's… dust season!" Ichigo continued to stare at him. Renji was frantic now. He just couldn't look stupid in front of the orange-haired shinigami AGAIN.
"You've never heard of dust season? The hell Ichigo! We have it in Soul Society all the time! That's where spring cleaning came from you know!" Renji started to ramble on, but was stopped by Ichigo's foot. The orange-haired shinigami gave him a dangerous grin.
"You expect me to believe that? How stupid do you think I am…" Ichigo continued to dig his foot into Renji's face. Renji managed to forcefully remove this offending mouth blocker from his face, and gasped for air. "Baka! Were you trying to kill me! I could have died of suffocation!" Renji continued breathing in and out.
Ichigo smirked. "I would have been doing the world a favor." Renji glared. "Say that to my face." Ichigo and Renji were only one inch away now, giving each other death glares. Then Ichigo broke apart. "Come on. We need to find Rukia." The red head stood dazed for a moment, and then followed. "Yeah."
From the storey above, a pair of eyes followed them.
"Got you."
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Matsumoto landed softly. First, it had been the fat arrancar in the material world. Now, it was the chubby shinobi/Hollow. She had some luck meeting overweight people. She dodged lightly as an extended arm tried to grab her. Haneko's excitement intensified, its overwhelming desire to play with the attacker filling Matsumoto's mind. Not yet…
She hid behind a pillar, her breathing coming normally now. It had caught her by surprise when a giant ball of flesh had come up from behind to crush her. She sighed as the shinobi passed by her. Her hand ran through her hair, trying to think of a strategy. Instead, last night's event came to her.
Matsumoto's flashback
"And you're absolutely sure?"
The white haired captain carefully scrutinized his lieutenant. Matsumoto firmly stood her ground against his icy green eyes. "I know it taichou. It was Gin."
Hitsugaya's frown deepened. Matsumoto somehow regretted telling him this. Lately, he had been stressed, winded so tight that it would be dangerous if he decided to come loose. Aizen's betrayal, his defeat, and Hinamori's coma were all weighing down on him now. Matsumoto's eyes softened as he walked back and forth in the hotel room. Even if he was a captain, he was still a child. And children shouldn't have so much to pull them back. Her thoughts even strayed to a common topic in her mind: how he had died in the real world. She wondered if he had even been able to taste childhood. Her childhood had truly started when she had met Gin. It had ended the same way as well.
"I will inform the captains tomorrow."
Hitsugaya quietly shut the door. Matsumoto sat down onto the couch behind her, tired and stressed. There were just too many things to think about… Too many…
End of flashback
She tightened her grip on her zanpakutou. She couldn't kill this shinobi so bluntly. She was sure there was a way to stop him without killing him. Her cerulean blue eyes glanced at the looming shadow behind her.
"So you ready to go again big guy?"
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"THIS WAY KEN-CHAN! THIS WAY!"
Zaraki took a quick left. "Are you sure? Can you sense any strong presence?" Yachiru pouted, still clinging tightly to her companion. "Fuu... Is Ken-chan doubting me?" Zaraki didn't say anything. "Fine. But you better be right this time."
Yachiru beamed again. "YAY! GO KEN-CHAN!" Of course, three seconds after that, they were stopped by yet another wall. It was getting harder and harder to see properly with all the dust too. So, that meant that Zaraki had stopped only a centimeter apart from the wall. That was close… He looked up. It was obviously just blocking another hallway. He smiled, gripping his zanpakutou. "Screw this." In a flash of slashes, the wall lay in jumbled pieces, some falling carelessly to the ground below. Yachiru clapped in delight. "YAY!"
Zaraki licked his lips, almost tasting the fights that awaited him. "So which way now?" Yachiru hummed while looking around. Not that she could see anything. Then, she noticed a certain dust cloud. One that looked uncannily like a rabbit, Chappy the Rabbit to be exact. She pointed dead on to the cloud. "THAT WAY KEN-CHAN!" With that, she was swept up in the wind that Zaraki caused as he ran, giggling with joy.
A figure hung upside-down on the ceiling. "Tsk, tsk… such bad sense of direction." She landed silently. "And so clueless. Can't sense another's presence either." Her hand strayed to her kunai pouch, pulling out a kunai. She licked its sharp edge with her snake like tongue.
"But so fun."
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"What's going on Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade continued to look on at the ruined chuunin training center. Kurenai tried again. "Tsunade-sama!" Tsunade snapped out of her trance. She looked at Kurenai, then at her team. She looked back at the building in front of her. Half of it was destroyed, while the other half was covered in thick dust, making it impossible to see if there were any survivors. So far, none had come out. Tsunade sighed.
"Team Kurenai. Perform a rescue mission. Bring back any survivors. Do not linger to defeat any opposition if present. Your mission is strictly to get out of there with as many living as you can. Do you understand?"
"Hai!"
The team disappeared, leaving Tsunade at the steps of the structure. What is going on here?
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"Now ain't t'at a pretty sight…"
Ichimaru Gin stood on a nearby roof, looking at the dust covered training center. His finger played around with the mechanism given to him by Aizen. His eyes opened slightly, his smile never disappearing.
"Now when should I be pressin' the pretty button…"
I'm sorry! I know that ended MUCH too quickly! FORGIVE ME! (Also for the TERRIBLE Gin accent at the end. I just can't figure out how he speaks )
It's just that I HAVE NO IDEA WHO SHOULD FIGHT ICHIGO AND RENJI! I mean sure, Naruto would be a really cool idea, BUT, I originally had it intended for later, you know, save the best for last. SO HELP ME! REVIEW! YOU WILL BE REWARDED WITH A LONGER BETTER CHAPTER! I PROMISE! Also, some cookies would help
O btw, for the people who didn't get it, Zaraki will be fighting Anko. That's right, Anko. I'm sorry, but Kakashi is great, but not really the Zaraki match up type I think. Besides, Anko's funny in her own way, even if she's half Hollow You can complain about this, then I can try to fix it for you guys.
I hope you guys liked the interruption free-ness of it all.
SO REVIEW!