"Bound By Destiny"
Chapter 2- "Conquistadors: Part 1"
By- Tiny
Ichigo was heading home from school that afternoon, his eyes gazing up at the clouds as they often did when he walked, though it wasn't the wispy bundles of white fluff that held his attention. Ganju was fumbling along behind him, just taking in the sights of the human world that he still hadn't grown accustomed to, but Ichigo hardly noticed his roommate and rival. He had other things on his mind, mostly concerning how much more frequently his inner hollow continued to surface when he left his body and how he was constantly putting his family in danger due to his immense spiritual pressure.
Ganju had tried to teach him a few methods for suppressing his power, so that they didn't have so many hollows hanging around all the time, but most of them had proven useless with Ichigo. He just didn't have the experience, not to mention discipline, to execute the techniques he was taught, all this despite receiving training from Captain-General Yamamoto and achieving bankai. As for the hollow that dwelled inside of his own body, there appeared to be little Ichigo could do about him as the damn thing constantly tried to surface and supplant the soul's master.
"What am I supposed to do now?" Ichigo mused, watching the clouds roll on by, "How can I protect the people I care for if I can't even control myself?"
Whilst Ichigo was pondering the mystery of his predicament on one side of town, his childhood friend Tatsuki was working out her own in the best and only way she knew how: training. The young girl was doing some shadowboxing in the park nearby a small grove of trees that she used to play by as a kid, her forehead drenched with sweat and her hair heavily matted. She always came here when she had a problem that needed solving, finding the place a bit more relaxing than the dojo back at school and knowing that Orihime wouldn't be able to relate to this one.
Ever since that day at the school right before the start of summer break, she had been bothered by what happened, how she hadn't been able to protect her best friend and had even inflicted harm on her herself. It had frustrated the hell out of her ever since that day, especially since Orihime had left soon after that with Ichigo and Chad, though Tatsuke still didn't know where to. Orihime had tried to lie and tell her that she was just visiting relatives, but Tatsuki knew that the only relatives Orihime associated with were her aunt and uncle in the north, and she didn't visit them.
Then there was Ichigo, who after returning from wherever he had spent his summer was even more brooding than usual and, despite how close they had been as kids, seemed to be alienating Tatsuki. All of this added to the sudden disappearance of Rukia and the appearance of a strange boy at her house a few days after Ichigo's return made for a rather stressful day. Training to improve her fighting technique seemed like the most logical thing to do, and so that's what she was doing when something tugged at the back of her mind, just before a large explosion nearly knocked her to her knees.
People began to gather around the source of the explosion, looking down into a freshly formed crater trying to find the source of the blast, not noticing the two spiritual entities that were standing at the crater's edge. They were two figures, one tall and dark while the other was shorter and pale, with bone-like protrusions on their bodies that almost looked like those of a hollow. Tatsuki couldn't see them herself due to the mass of people that were in the front of the crowd, but she could feel...something smothering her senses as, all of a sudden, she felt her body growing weaker.
As she looked up, she could clearly see the two figures at the crater, one seeming to suck in several dozen wispy manifestations, which looked oddly like the ghosts that Tatsuki saw around her school. She could feel her body trembling as she noticed that the bodies of other people in the park, including several children, went limp and just collapsed, the white wisps then getting sucked up by the dark-skinned man. It was at that point that she realized exactly what was happening, that these people were sucking the very souls out of these innocent bystanders, and it made her blood boil as she rushed them.
She hadn't made it three feet before the smaller one spotted her and, without seeming to move at all, sent the dark-haired girl spiraling back across the park and into a tree with tremendous force. The splintering wood drove into her skin like miniature spears, sending a fiery pain soaring through her body, but she refused to just sit there and rose to her feet once more. The large man seemed almost amused, his mouth twisted into a sinister smirk as she charged him again, this time getting past the smaller figure and actually managed to hit him in the stomach.
The blow actually hurt the large man, causing him to bend slightly at the hips as a small trickle of saliva flew from his lips, followed by Tatsuki falling down to the ground in pain. Whatever this man was, and it certainly wasn't human, his skin was so tough that it seemed to have broken her left foot, making it so that she couldn't even stand up when the dark-skinned man plucked her up by her shirt front. His smirk was even more dark than it had been before, the killing intent that seemed to radiate out of him so rich that it made Tatsuki turn whiter than a sheet.
"Such spunk in a human, and she can actually see us!" the dark-skinned man laughed, seeming to make the ground shake, "Ulquiorra, what do you say about this one?"
"She seems to have a good reserve of spiritual pressure, but not even enough to challenge you, Yammy," the short man sighed, "She is trash; dispose of her."
"With pleasure!" Yammy beamed, pulling his fist back, "Nothing personal kid!"
"Maybe not for you, ugly," a new, gruff voice spoke up, "BUT FOR ME, THERE IS!"
Yammy looked up just in time to have another foot slam into his face, this time sending the large man reeling towards the ground and, subsequently, dropping Tatsuki into the arms of her savior. The short man, known as Ulquiorra, simply looked slightly surprised as the large man he came with rose to his feet, rubbing his jaw from where he had been hit. Yammy couldn't believe that he had actually been knocked to the ground by someone on this plane, not to mention that the force with which he had been hit was much harder than any human should be capable of.
The man who had rescued Tatsuki didn't look that much older than her, his own hair as black as the night, green eyes glaring daggers at Yammy as he laid the smaller girl down on the ground. He was only wearing a pair of black cargo-type pants, his feet covered by a pair of white and red tennis shoes, the tattoo of a male lion clearly visible on his right shoulder. Tatsuki knew this man simply as Kon, the name her new sensei had given to her once they started training together, and knew for a fact that he possessed tremendous stamina and leg strength.
"This one's spiritual pressure is rather high, possibly as high as your own or greater Yammy," Ulquiorra mused, noting the blood on his comrade's lip, "Still, he is no threat to me, much less Aizen-sama, and therefore is expendable. Kill him."
"With pleasure!" Yammy roared, rising to his feet, "I'm gonna make you wish you were never born, boy!"
"In your dreams, double ugly," Kon grinned, sticking his tongue out at the large figure, "You couldn't even catch me, much less kill me. Maybe if you shed a few pounds off your fat head."
"FUCK YOU!" Yammy snapped, rushing the slender figure, "I'M GONNA SEND YOU TO THE NEXT LIFE RIGHT NOW!"
Yammy's fist never hit the kaizou konpaku as he moved away in a flash, the next second standing on the large man's fist with a smile on his face, enraging his opponent further. Blow after blow was thrown, Kon managing to dodge each one with seeming ease and even managed to land a few of his own, startling his opponent and keeping all attention of the smaller man on him. Kon was about to go for another kick to the slower man's head when Yammy showed he had some tricks too, flashing out of the other fighter's sight and appearing behind him.
Kon seemed a bit stunned by this development, barely reacting in time as the large man pulled his sword from it's sheath, bringing it down into the ground where his opponent had been just moments before. Instead of hitting Kon, however, it came into contact with another sword, this one belonging to a rather shapely shinigami who seemed to be struggling just to hold Yammy's strike back. Eventually she gave in, jumping back towards Kon and falling into a defensive position, making a vein stand out on Yammy's head as he glared at the new arrival.
"Where in the hell do you fleas keep coming from to bite me?" the large swordsman roared, "Who the hell is this bitch?"
"Kurotsuchi Nemu, fukutaicho of 12th unit," the girl bowed slightly, "I have come to offer my aid to Kon-san."
"Thanks Nemu, I could use it," Kon chuckled, "This guy's a bit surprising, and I'm pretty sure that he's still warming up."
"Then it would be a shame to hold back on him," Nemu smiled softly, holding her sword in both hands, "Awaken...Galatea!"
There was a short flash just before things cleared up again, revealing the changes that had occurred once Nemu opened her mouth, her weapon having taken on the appearance of a long zanba-tou. Yammy didn't have much time to reflect on the change, however, as Nemu swung the blade and a large column of earth struck Yammy in the chin and sent him on his back. This was followed by a rock slide that came down from the top of the column, which would have buried Yammy were it not for him slashing all of the rocks with his sword.
Ulquiorra looked slightly amused, if that was possible for him, as he watched the newly arrived shinigami and her cohort make a fool of Yammy, something that nobody had counted on when coming here. According to Aizen, the only threat that could be perceived of in this world was an orange-haired shinigami named Kurosaki, yet here were three people who had actually injured one of the ex-taicho's soldiers. It was a feat they should relish in, for if it should appear that Yammy was going to lose Ulquiorra would not only kill his attackers, but Yammy as well for being so weak.
"Should we continue this fight, ugly, or do you give?" Kon mocked the large man, still having not broken a sweat, "The odds aren't in your favor."
"So what?" Yammy snarled, rising to his feet, "I won't give in to a couple of weakling kids like you two!"
"Then you leave us with no choice, ugly-san," Nemu bowed politely, taking her released weapon in hand, "It brings me no pleasure, but I shall kill you."
"BRING IT ON!!!!!"
Ichigo had felt it on the other side of town once Tatsuki was attacked by the two figures who were radiating immense spiritual pressure, putting both himself and Ganju on edge instantly. It was lost the way that he felt when he first encountered Zaraki in the Sereitei, seeming to smother him completely in a way that he wasn't used to, especially after defeating Kuchiki-taicho. He knew he needed to move and go help his friend, but couldn't seem to find his feet as Ganju began to sweat, a sign not welcome in the person that was supposed to be 'guarding' Ichigo.
The young shinigami was about to release his konpaku from his body and take off for Tatsuki's location when something else came to the back of his senses, easily as powerful if not more than what he felt in the park. It made Ganju nearly pass out, falling on his butt as he pointed behind Ichigo, causing the orange-haired teen to turn around and face the source of this new power. What he saw nearly made him fall on his own butt and would have if not for the dignity that he still had, his mouth moving to try and form words but not really being able to make anything come out.
There was a man standing before them, a shinigami with a captain's robe tied around his arm and his sword clearly visible tucked into his sash, his gaze fixed on the shaking forms before him. A small smile creased his features, his dark hair swept up into the air and his face covered in a neatly trimmed beard, and Ichigo felt like a fool for not sensing this earlier. The man standing before him was none other than his father, the same person who ambushed himself and Ganju every morning, and who most people at first regarded as a foolish idiot.
"Your friends are in no danger Ichigo, Kisuke and Yoruichi are heading for them right now," Isshin smiled, jumping down to the ground, "You, Ganju, and I have much to discuss, but it is best done somewhere private. Follow me."
"Do you think we should?" Ganju asked, whispering to Ichigo as Isshin took off into the city, "He's been deceiving us all this time, I'm not sure we can trust him."
"He's my father Ganju, I have to trust him, and if anything goes wrong I think I can take him," Ichigo mused, beginning to take off at a run, "Are you coming or what?"
"Just as foolish as ever, aren't you?" Ganju shook his head, following after the orange-haired teen, "I hope you know what your doing, Ichigo."
"So do I, Ganju," Ichigo smirked, keeping an eye on his father, "So do I..."
Translations
Kaizou Konpaku: Modified Soul
Galatea(Greek): Has no meaning, but was the name of a statue brought to life by the goddess, Aphrodite. This is a reflection of the fact that Nemu was made through artificial means. The swords abilities are earth based.
Author's Notes: Well, that's another chapter down and boy was this one difficult, but I hope you all like it nonetheless. And before anyone says anything, yes, I do realize that Yammy has yet to draw his sword in the manga or anime, but this story has risen the level of competition he's facing and, as such, made him have to step up. You won't see Ulquiorra drawing his sword yet, but be advised to keep your eyes peeled for more action from usually complacent foes.
The next chapter will continue where this one left off, with Ichigo and Ganju coming to the training room underneath Urahara's shop, where Isshin does something quite unexpected: he attacks them! Meanwhile, Kon and Nemu are doing their level best just to keep up with Yammy in combat, but the large warrior seems to be taking his toll on them as reinforcements arrive! All this and more in the next chapter!!!