Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for Beta'ing!
Shadows In The Night — XII
The door flew open.
"They're here."
Ichigo rolled his eyes. He wanted to tell Byakuya something along the lines of 'Duh, I can see that' but he knew that it wouldn't help the situation any. As he eyed the people standing in the doorway, he could name all four of the Shinigami. Hitsugaya, Hinamori, Kenpachi and Ikkaku; and he was sure that little, annoying pinkie had to be hiding somewhere.
They all stopped when they saw Ichigo and Byakuya standing there in the room, their Zanpaktou's drawn. Hitsugaya leaned over and whispered something to Hinamori and she nodded, grabbing Yachiru's hand from behind Kenpachi, and they ran off together. Ichigo knew where they were going; they were heading after Rukia and the others.
Now, only Kenpachi and Hitsugaya were left.
And of course, the bigger, crazier, and probably stronger one just had to attack Ichigo.
"Finally! I can fight you again!" Kenpachi yelled, a wild look in his eyes as he plunged his Zanpaktou down to Ichigo's form.
Ichigo grunted under the strain of holding back Kenpachi's Zanpaktou with his own. Summoning all his human strength, he pushed off the Zanpaktou and jumped back several spaces to allow him room to counter Kenpachi's next attack, which came within seconds. As he quickly averted his eyes from Kenpachi, he could see that Byakuya had already began his fight with Hitsugaya, and the younger man had been forced to go into initial release already.
Good. Ichigo thought. That means he can help me with this maniac sooner.
"Why can't you just leave me and my family alone?" Ichigo yelled, blocking yet another attack and trying to get one of his own in.
"I don't care about your little family, I just want to fight!"
He should have thought it was something like that.
"Damn!" Ichigo cursed as he was thrown against the wall as the overwhelming force of Kenpachi's reiatsu hit against him. His head made contact with the stone and he felt dizzy as he stood to his feet, his Zanpaktou clashing against Kenpachi's once again.
As he looked around quickly, he saw that the roof sat low; if he held his Zanpaktou over his head, it would get stuck in the ceiling. Smirking, he yelled to Byakuya,
"Hey! Watch out and cover your head!"
Byakuya glanced at him for a second, too caught up in fighting with Hitsugaya, who had yet to release his ban-kai, to pay him much attention.
"Getsuga tenshō!" Ichigo yelled, pointing his Zanpaktou toward the roof as he let loose. The red and black shot that fired from his Zanpaktou took the normal form of the crescent moon as it hit the roof, showering the room and everyone in it with large pieces of wood as the whole top portion of the building crumbled into pieces.
Byakuya was going to kill him later for doing that to his mansion, but hey, a guy needed space.
"Sōten ni zase!" Hitsugaya yelled, taking advantage of the situation. The large flow of reiatsu exploded out of his blade, turning into Ice in the form of the Chinese Dragon. It rushed at Byakuya, who was still partially blinded from the dust.
As Ichigo turned his attention back to Kenpachi just in time to avoid being hit, he swore he heard a long line of curse words coming from the older Kuchiki. He highly doubted that the noble was injured, but he was probably pissed at Ichigo for giving Hitsugaya the opening he was looking for.
"Hey, freakshow!" Ichigo yelled loudly in attempt to grab Kenpachi's attention. "Would ya please just leave us alone?"
Kenpachi didn't answer and Ichigo shrugged, and, having the room he needed to swing his Zanpaktou around freely, aimed it at Kenpachi, letting out another shot. The crescent moon exploded and knocked Kenpachi backward a little, giving Ichigo the chance to move in and hit Zangetsu against Kenpachi.
His attack was easily blocked and Ichigo was flung against the wall again, hitting hard. Blood began to trickle down his forehead as he reached a hand up to find that there was a large gash right above his eye.
That was what he felt . . .
Ichigo breathed deeply.
The smell of blood was assulting his senses . . . the feel of pain . . . the feeling of anger . . .
"Kurosaki! Concentrate!"
Ichigo ignored Byakuya as he jumped to his feet, wiping blood out of his eye as he ran after Kenpachi.
He knew he was being reckless . . .
His Zanpaktou made contact with Kenpachi's with a loud clash and at least a few sparks.
If he kept being reckless, he was going to have to bring out his ban-kai a lot before he expected. He didn't want to . . . he could do it without needing Zangetsu's help. He could beat this crazy, fight-loving freak.
Couldn't he?
As Ichigo was about to attack Kenpachi again, he felt a hand on his neck. The back of his shirt was gabbed roughly and he was pulled forward to face Byakuya.
"Kurosaki, dammit! Concentrate! You need to concentrate! Do not let anger get the better of you, because you sure as hell aren't leaving my niece and nephew without a father before they even speak! Hear me? Concentrate!"
It was the most emotion that Ichigo had ever seen Byakuya show.
Taking a deep breath in as Byakuya let go of his Shinigami robes, Ichigo half-concentrated as Hitsugaya attacked Byakuya; the smaller of the two having just brought out his ban-kai. Ichigo could tell because the temperature in the room had just dropped several degrees.
He couldn't leave Raye and Michio without a father . . . he had to concentrate on fighting.
Forcing everything out of his head except for thoughts of his fight, Ichigo yelled,
"Tensa Zangetsu!"
As a light wind surrounded him, his large Zanpaktou compressed. Smirking, Ichigo put both hands tightly on the hilt of his Zanpaktou and began running. Kenpachi was lost as Ichigo moved faster than they eye could comprehend. He saw his opening . . . he had to take it . . .
It was light outside as Renj stepped from the secret cave entrance that led from the sewer system to the outside of Seireitei. He looked around, his eyes closing as he breathed in deeply. He hadn't been outside the gates in a month, and it was nice to be in the open air again.
But his happiness was short lived as he suddenly picked up a large blast of Ichigo's reiatsu.
Frowning, he turned to Unohana and Isane, who were both holding one of the babies.
"I can open the gate, but not with Rukia in my arms."
As he spoke, he motioned to the sleeping girl. Unohana nodded and placed Raye, who was sleeping quietly in her arms, down on the soft grass. Isane bent down beside the baby and lightly pressed her hand to the small girl's chest to keep her from rolling around in the dirt as Unohana took Rukia from Renji.
Now free to move around, Renji told everyone to step back while he opened the gate.
Raye's small, ice blue eyes opened just as the gate did. She turned her gaze to look up at Isane, who smiled down gently at her.
Then, she started crying.
Her small wails woke Rukia and Unohana let her sit down on the grass and pick up the baby. Renji had successfully opened the gate as he walked over to the small group. He smiled as he watched Rukia with the baby, then turned to Unohana and whispered,
"We have to go. I can sense the reiatsu of two Shinigami. Probably Hinamori and Yachiru. Please, we have to go now."
Unohana nodded and leaned down, gently touching Rukia's shoulder. She whispered something and Rukia nodded, standing shakily to her feet. Raye, who was still in her arms, blinked tears out of her bright blue eyes as Renji guided them both through the gate, helping Rukia along with the hell butterfly.
When they arrived on the other side, Rukia collapsed and Renji just barely caught her and Raye. Yoruichi was at his side in less than a second, helping move Rukia and Raye up to the main part of the building. When they arrived, Renji saw something that surprised him greatly.
"Mr. Kurosaki?" he asked, his mouth dropping open.
There, sitting in the middle of the living room, drinking tea with Urahara, was Isshin Kurosaki.
Both men jumped at least three inches. Urahara spilled his tea on himself and Isshin turned around so quickly that Renji was surirpsed his head was still connected to his body.
"Who are you and how do you know my name . . . and is that Rukia?!" Isshin yelled, jumping from his seat and running to Yoruichi, who still held the unconscious Rukia in her arms. Just as he was about to ask another question, he caught sight of Unohana and Isane coming up from the entrance to the underground training room. And, in Isane's arms, he saw Michio.
"Is that my grandkid? Why the hell was he born so soon? Now, I'll admit that, while I am a doctor, I don't deliver too many babies, but I know for a fact that a baby that young cannot love outside the womb. Why is he alive? Why is he so big? A baby at that age should be about an inch tall and weigh only a pound!"
Unohana looked at him, and, realizing who he was, said,
"While all of those things are true, we were able to help him mature inside the womb before he was born. This is Michio Renji. He was born early because his reiatsu combined with Raye's was hurting Rukia. You're Isshin, right?"
Isshin nodded numbly.
He walked over and smiled down at the sleeping baby.
"He's so small . . ."
Renji smirked.
"Ya think he's small? You should see his sister. Oh, by the way, Rukia had twins."
Isshin fainted.
Ichigo was breathing deeply as Byakuya helped him lean up against the wall. Hitsugaya was in worse condition, having taken a direct from Senbonzakura, but Byakuya had been careful not to kill him or injure him worse than he could heal easily from with the right treatment. Kenpachi had been taken away by the little pink haired girl before he and Ichigo had finished fighting because she could see that there was no way Ken-chan could win when Ichigo went into ban-kai mode.
Although, admittedly, he was taken kicking and screaming. The little girl had stuck something in his arm, and Ichigo had been sure it was some kind of drug because he had slumped over and let pinkie carry him off.
"Are you alright?" Byakuya asked, leaning Ichigo's head back onto the wall.
Ichigo nodded and winced, gasping and trying not to breathe. He was sure he had broken several ribs, and they hurt like fire. The gash on his head was still bleeding badly, and he had a large cut on his stomach, extending from his waist up to his chest.
"You should . . . have seen him. T-this is nothing, compared to h-him . . . " Ichigo gasped, a smirk on his face, grimacing again as he took another breath in.
Byakuya looked around the room as he helped Ichigo to his feet.
"We must get through the gate. I will alert help for Captain Hitsugaya right as we leave. Can you walk?"
Ichigo nodded, putting on foot in front of the other as Byakuya helped him out of the door of the mansion. It would have been a strange sight if you saw it; Ichigo was leaning on Byakuya for support, the worse off of the two. Byakuya barely had a scratch on him compaired to Ichigo.
"Prepare yourself. I am going to use Shunpo."
Within seconds they were at the same, grassy cliff as Renji and the others had left from. After quickly opening the gate, Byakuya helped Ichigo through.
The effects of travel caught Ichigo off-guard, and as he tumbled out on the other side, he threw up as he fell to the floor, wincing in pain from his ribs and stomach.
Yoruichi was in the training room beside the gate, waiting for them when they came through. She ran over to Ichigo and immediately placed her hands over his chest, closing her eyes as she healed the gash on his stomach and his ribs. Within seconds she was done and she helped Byakuya carry Ichigo up the ladder to the main room.
Not a word was passed between the two as they walked.
Ichigo was on the edge of consciousness, but he felt better as his body was healed slightly.
"Captain Kuchiki, please, come here and help me," Unohana said. She was holding Raye in her arms and was trying to conceal the baby's reiatsu by smothering it in her own and hiding both at the same time. Isane was trying to do the same thing with Michio, but she was failing.
Byakuya calmly took Michio from Isane and held the tiny boy in his arms as he concentrated on hiding the reiatsu.
Urahara, who hadn't spoke a word sine Rukia, Renji and Raye had first appeared through the gate, watched as Ichigo was laid on the floor beside Rukia. Isshin was still slumped over the couch, not being paid any attention by anyone because he was healthy; he was just an idiot.
Unohana and Byakuya were working on setting their reiatsu to where it would conceal the babies power without them having to constantly concentrate, and Yoruichi was trying to heal Ichigo and Rukia further.
Renji was just standing in the corner, watching it all pass before his eyes.
Urahara blinked a few times and said,
"Woah. Good grief. Well, that's something different!"
Huh. Well, personally, I don't think I did a very god job with that. But, hey, whatever. What did YOU think? (Pokes reviewer) Please send your thoughts? Good or bad, I don't care. I just want to know what people think!(Pokes readers who don't review) Please?
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