Within the darkened hallways, a pair of feet pattered on the wooden floor of the residence hidden behind a candy shop.
"Where are we going, Mr. Urahara?" confused by the man's sudden urgency, quite out of character for the shopkeeper, Emiko was quite perturbed. She was more or less tugged along with the blond man's hand gripping her wrist to follow him around in the shop. "Why are we up here?" she asked again before being tossed toward the waiting man known as Tessai. Trying to stand up, Emiko fell to the floor again as a large explosion outside rang out. She yelped during her stumble, but was able to right herself when the large bespectacled man caught her. "Mr. Urahara!?" she yelled more forcefully, "What's going on?"
Ignoring her plea, the blond man simply removed his trademark green and white striped bucket hat, and placed it onto her head. His face was somber, before switching to a half-sincere smile. "Tessai…take care of her for a bit." He winked to his larger assistant before turning to leave.
"Mr. Ura-" a large hand was placed in front of her face, leading up to the bespectacled and mustached man with a serious look on his face.
"Mr. Urahara…is going to help your parents…don't worry." He finally informed her. Straightening up, the large man moved out of view behind a door before appearing again, a tray full of cookies in hand while wearing his own trademark green apron. Gently placing the tray onto the table nearby, he ushered her to sit in a chair, before setting out a plate and glass for her. "Are you hungry or thirsty?" he tried to reassure the teenager with his own calm composure.
Appreciating the gesture, Emiko smiled and nodded silently, allowing the large man to go through the doors, which obviously led to the kitchen. 'Guys…' she thought about her friends, and those close to her. '…Mom…Dad…I'm sorry I'm not of any use at all…' she sniffled and wiped a tear from her eye just as Tessai returned with a carton of milk. 'At the very least, I'll make sure…I'm not in your way…'
--
End Game (Part 2)
--
One slash was all it took to defeat each of these Hollow. One slash; it screamed, then he would move on to kill the next Hollow.
Why then, were there still so many of these Hollow attacking them!?
Renji panted, desperately making his way through the horde as wave after wave continued to flow in. Angrily, he growled out, releasing his shikai to carve into the crowd surrounding him. "Get…out…of…my…WAY!!" Bursting through the horde as dozens of Hollow disintegrated he spotted who he had been looking for since the ceiling collapsed. Jumping into the air, Renji crossed the distance of twenty feet to slash down on the Hollow attacking the raven haired woman.
"Tatsuki, are you o-" interrupted by a punch in the face, he whined and clasped his bleeding nose with his free hand.
"Oh, sorry…didn't realize you were there…" the woman responded casually, and blocked a slash aimed for her before countering with a heavy kick. Not seeing another Hollow appear behind her, she was taken by surprise to hear the screech and turned around. The segmented blade was just retracting back when she turned toward Renji, breathing heavily as he approached her.
"…After getting out of this, we're going to talk…" Wiping a small speckle of red that escaped from his nose with his sleeve, Renji kept his face serious considering their situation. "You know that bastard, Urahara, is actually turning a profit in this town? He even offered me a paying job…" Confused, Tatsuki and Renji both paused to strike or slash respective Hollow that tried to attack them. "…you'll see, Tatsuki…" Renji continued, "…in three month's time, I'll make good on that promise I made to you then…"
"…I want to be with you…"
"R-renji…?" she gulped at his proposal, not needing the distraction while they continued to fight for their lives. "Now…isn't the time to be talking about this…" Though a bit hesitant at first, the Vale Tudo fighter defended herself against three consecutive Hollows, while Renji moved in to kill them all using Zabimaru. Using the inertia of his earlier movement, Renji quickly jumped and held out the flat side of his zanpakuto to block against a sudden projectile attack aimed for Tatsuki.
"Hou…" a soft set of claps sang amongst the Hollow. In fact, the giant horde had suddenly stopped attacking, though poised to; they stood back as one within the crowd approached Renji and Tatsuki. "Quite impressive, shinigami…" Standing before them, a lone Hollow smirked and casually bowed. He was a lanky looking man, with broken remnants of a mask that were two beak-like protrusions that stuck out of the sides of his head looking like ears, and most of the left side of his face including his eye. "I am Prillinscepe Gatsuche. Lord Mikio has sent me to kill you…"
"Eh… 'Lord Mikio'?" Renji asked in a cynical tone, "Never heard of the guy…" Just barely turning his head for Tatsuki to hear, he whispered 'get as far away as possible…'
"I see…" standing up from his bow, the Hollow unceremoniously unsheathed his sword. "Well then, let me give you the honor of-" Interfering with his speech, Renji extended Zabimaru to slash at the Hollow's shoulder, which was easily dodged. At the very moment, Tatsuki began running the other way, punching and kicking out through the Hollow that surrounded them. Irritated by the act, Prillinscepe growled and bared his teeth along with an angered scowl.
"You talk too much…" Renji started with a boastful tone. Smirking that Tatsuki had managed to fight her way out of the immediate area, he happily displayed his zanpakuto for the Hollow to see. "BANKAI!" Through the explosion of smoke, a monstrous red haired snake-skeleton lunged after the Hollow. Without hesitation, Prillinscepe immediately impaled his chest with his own sword, just before Hihio Zabimaru crashed into him.
"Orar, Quetzcequetol!"
Renji motioned to retract his zanpakuto with a whip-like crack from its handle, but felt enormous resistance instead. "…shit…" he growled softly as he realized what had happened. The dust from crushed rock was now beginning to clear, revealing the transformed Hollow, its bird-like features completely overtaking its entire form…single handedly keeping a hold on Zabimaru's skull.
--
"I wanted to make it a surprise…" Slapping away the gripping arm off of his, the older man couldn't help but smile. The wrinkles of his face creased with the added muscle use, making it look as if he had found his long lost friends to anyone watching from far away. "Besides, I could never impose on your family, anyway…" Despite Kazuhiro's continued grin, the bespectacled man stared at him with a continued fury of hate. A look of disbelief overtook the old man's face as he stared back with reminiscent eyes. "…is that you, Soken…?"
"That's his kid, actually…" the third man added with a slight chuckle, "though he's like the spitting image of his youth, right? Speaking of which…" turning his glance back toward Kazuhiro, the bearded man eyed the older gentleman down as if he were inspecting for flaws like a military officer would during uniform inspection. "What's with the getup, Kazuhiro?"
"Hmmm?" looking back in a moment of confusion, Kazuhiro's eyes lit up as he knew what the man meant by the remark. "Yes, well…it's just something I've been working on." He pinched one wrinkled hand, mesmerized by the realistic reaction it had as the skin slowly reformed itself. "I want to show Captain Urahara what it can do…I've really made it for his benefit, really…"
"Well take it off, will ya? It's really starting to freak me out…" the other man said bluntly, "…I feel awkward to talk to an older man in such a familiar manner…"
Kazuhiro only smiled back, motioning one hand into his jacket pocket to retrieve a single glove. Wordlessly slipping it on, he pushed his gloved hand against his chest, leaving the old body lifeless to crumple to the ground. Before them stood a much younger looking man, free of wrinkles and pale-golden hair atop his head. His youthful amber eyes no longer looked out of place with this new face as Kazuhiro bent down to retrieve the cane from the now dead old man. With a whoosh, a sudden gust of wind that emanated from what seemed to be the blond man himself ruffled through the hair and clothing of all three men standing in the front yard. "Captain Kurosaki…" the younger Kazuhiro mused as he stood up to look the bearded man in the eye. "…you never cease to amuse me…"
--
'…the hell was that…?' Renji continued his tug-of-war against the arrancar tens of yards ahead of him. The feeling crept down his spine like a chill, as a reiatsu signature he hadn't felt before suddenly exploded into existence. The distraction worked against him, as Prillinscepe easily pulled the shinigami off of his feet to fly forward into the ground.
"If I had to guess, I would say that-" A sudden rush of force interrupted the Hollow, as the snake-skull screeched and twisted out of Prillinscepe's grasp with a thunderous twitch, sending the arrancar to crash against a rocky wall.
"Didn't I tell you, already?" Renji boasted with a wide smile, whipping his zanpakuto's handle to retract the massive body to coil around him once again, "You…TALK too much!!" he attacked again, sending the roaring screeching skull to pummel against Prillinsepe's own rush. As Hihio Zabimaru charged to crush its enemy with its massive jaws, Prillinscepe quickly changed his footing, moving to the side to slam the huge beast away like a blitzing football player. Rather than panic, Renji smiled at this action, quickly whipping the handle toward his left. Expecting as easy attack, the beastly looking Prillinscepe looked over his shoulder as the monstrously sized zanpakuto opened its mouth wide and felt the surge of reiatsu. "BABOON BONE CANON!!" With a gasp, red was all that Prillinscepe last saw.