Her movement seemed to attract the beastly Hollow after her, and her attempts to fight back seemed only to attract even more of them.
Leapfrogging over a lanky masked Hollow immediately in front of her, she balanced on the skull, using it as like a gymnast would a vaulting horse to twist around and kick away advancing Hollow before flipping over and tossing the one in her grasp over her shoulder into a group of them like a bowling ball hitting pins. "I better not be getting too old for this!" she exclaimed in sheer disappointment, noticing that the results of her punches and kicks weren't up to par to a few years ago.
She kick blindly behind, managing to strike away one monster with a screech, before twisting her hip to follow through and knock down three more through the inertia and momentum of the attack. Despite all of her efforts though, it seemed that she was only successful in knocking them down, not destroying them.
Somehow figuring this out as well, the same lanky Hollow that she had used to leapfrog was in front of a small group of five, ready to pounce on her when they had gotten close enough.
"Sing, Benihime!" A wave of red energy carved through the throngs of Hollow in front of her, in fact, formed a wall enclosing her before moving outward to envelop how ever many Hollow were left alive. Dropping to his feet right next to her, a blur of green and yellow weaved to and fro through the remain Hollow, numbers devastated as only a handful were left to be picked off by simple swipes of a sword.
Dropping to the ground from sheer exhaustion built up from a mix of running and fighting, Tatsuki had the first chance to rest since the whole ordeal began with what seemed hours ago, was mearly half of a single one. "You…you didn't have to do that, Urahara…" Tatsuki huffed; pushing away the man's outstretched hand.
"I'm just trying to help, you know…" with a pout, the blond haired man rubbed his sore wrist as the woman in front of him stood back up under her own power. "…" Despite that, Urahara grinned in a mischievous manner as Tatsuki brushed the dust off of her clothes and hair.
"…" it didn't take long for her to notice his staring. "…can I help you?" Tatsuki asked in a less-than-amused voice, not appreciating the attention the blond man was giving her at all.
"I was just admiring a young woman's beauty, that' all" Giving an ambiguous smile Urahara only received a look of disinterest from Tatsuki in return.
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, then…" the woman began, combing her hand through her hair as she looked arbitrarily away in thought. Her eyes flickered back toward Urahara, filled with a sort of realization as if she had made a very important decision. "…It just happens that…I'm spoken for…"
"Oh…" To this, Urahra couldn't help but give off a smile—a sincere one this time—as he glanced in the same general direction as she did. Leaning some of his weight onto Benihime in front of him, he took a deep breath in before exhaling with the sound of relief, like he had been holding this one breath for quite a while. "…well…I'll make sure he works hard for every penny…" he commented ambiguously yet again, sure that they were on the same wavelength about the assumed topic at hand.
"I wouldn't want it any other way…" she gave her first real smile in so long, like the weight of trying to achieve a championship belt had just been lifted because of a victory.
"…We are talking about Renji, right?" the blond man asked in a half serious tone, eliciting a surprised laugh from Tatsuki. "…"
"…yeah…" her voice was soothed and confident, "…we are…"
--
End Game (Part 3)
--
"Chin!!!" screaming in a panic, Aiko struck anxiously into every Hollow that attacked her, too preoccupied with looking for her friend to take particular care of herself. Receiving minor scratches and bruises with every encounter, the raven haired teen rushed back through the hordes, vainly trying to reach Chin again.
A flurry of rockets sparked dozens of explosions through the crowd, serving only to give pinpricks to a hugely dominating force of numbers. "Aiko!!" Ururu called back, trying to reach the teen before anything happened to the distraught girl. She had managed to hold back her programming, her Berserker Mode for this long, but it was only a matter of time before it had overridden her prerogative to protect Aiko, an order she voluntarily took from not just her parents, but Chin, himself. "Aiko! Come back!" her voice was easily drowned out by the screeches and hunger pained growls of the masked Hollow all around them, as the purple haired woman slowly began to feel her consciousness slip away bit by bit.
'Come on, Yukiko! Don't you have any other attack? Another ability?'Aiko swung her released zanpakuto with increasing desperation, pleading for there to be some stronger trait that could change the situation. "Why can't I have bankai!? Like my mom…or dad!?" her tears flowed as her grip tightened, now finding herself being swarmed by the sheer numbers of Hollow around her. Aiko's progress forward had simply halted, and now the teen fought to survive, to keep going until every last Hollow around her had crackled and shattered into pieces of ice. "Let…me…THROUGH!!!!"
With a single swing, a wave of Hollow had turned to ice, in fact, the wind all around her had taken a life of its own and flew through the hordes like a divine wind that answered Aiko's pleas. The goddess who had answered the plea weaved effortlessly through the Hollow, her robes of white signaling an immediate death upon the corrupted souls that dared to gaze upon her two blades. A blade of pure majestic white; a sword of an ephemeral ice; both carved through their victims with impunity, shattering or disintegrating Hollow after Hollow until almost none were left to stand up to the apocalyptic assault. Only a spiraling tower of sand stood between the three women and the shinigami Vice-Captain whom they set off to save, which offered no support to whether Chin was still ok or not.
"…Mom…" Aiko gulped as she looked on with a terrified awe, to which the older woman sighed and watched the spiral as well.
"I know, sweetie…you just have to believe in him…" placing a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder, Rukia urged the younger girl to believe…that was all any of them could do at this point.
--
Sitting within the near empty waiting room of the Karakura Hospital owned by his family, Uryuu sat restlessly with his wife as they waited out the fight they knew would happen. Though they hadn't shown any signs of concern, the young children Kai and Hisana Kurosaki busied themselves with playing with the youngest Ishida seated safely in his stroller.
'If anything happens, you're our last line of defense Uryuu…' the bespectacled man remembered Ichigo's request before they secluded themselves in Urahara's newest training area.
Pushing his glasses up his nose bridge with a single finger, Uryuu sighed as the anxiety slowly grew in him about the condition of everyone.
"Excuse me, Doctor Ishida?" the small orange haired Kai had walked up to Uryuu without him noticing at all. His mind was so deep in thought, that it took a slight nudge from his wife before he reciprocated attention toward the boy.
"Oh, sorry…" Uryuu apologized, leaning toward Kai to hear his question. "Do you need to go to the restroom, or something?"
"Uh, no…nothing like that…" Kai shook his head to the man's guess, as he scratched the back of his neck, wondering how he should word out his question. "Uh…w-what kind of things does…Setsuko…like…?"
"…?" Surprised by the question concerning his daughter, his memory sparked that her birthday was coming up in a few weeks. "…" Now wondering himself what he should get her for her thirteenth birthday. Another tap from his wife garnered his attention as he adjusted his glasses again.
Checking the condition of a bottleful of milk with one hand, the light-auburn haired woman placed a finger on her lips in thought. "Speaking of which, Uryuu…where is she…?"
"…" His mind went blank for a second, as he laughed off his wife's question. "Don't worry about that, Orihime…she's just…" he turned his head to face the opposite end of the waiting room, where empty seats greeted him. "Uh…she must be in the restroom then, I nearly forgot!"
"For half an hour, now?"
"…" Blanking out again, it took a second before those words registered in his fatigue addled mind. "…SETSUKO!?"
--
"Lord Mikio will be pleased with the extermination of a traitor…" the adjuchas Hollow mused with a menacing chuckle, as it continued to circle its prey about in search for a possible weak point in the sand spiral's defense.
"It's pretty odd to hear you say that about me…" his uniform had been cut, displaying the slices, nicks and gaping wounds he had thus far received. His left arm was bare, the sleeve torn to shreds as the hand shivered from the continuing blood loss. One Hollow had taken a lucky strike and crippled his arm, leaving him only one arm and fatigue to take on this adjuchas. "…I didn't have much say in the group to be considered a 'member', if you know what I mean…"
"Nothing you say will change my directions to kill you, Shinigami…" the frog-like appearance of its face stretched from ear to ear in a jagged toothed smile, as it raised its clawed hands ready to pounce. "It's not like you have a chance in hell!" it charged toward Chin, shooting down its monstrous claw like a spear toward the shinigami's neck. With a simple flick of his wrist, however, the two of them were now caught in a arm-wrestling match—where the one who lost would surely receive a killing blow. "…" the Hollow cackled violently as it smiled even more when it noticed something about this struggle. "You know the only difference at this point…?" as it said this, the Hollow had raised his other arm to cut down on Chin's sword-wrist "…I can still use both of my arms!!"
With a soft smile on his face, he watched as the hollow moved to deliver a crippling blow to his other arm. Despite the danger, he loosened his push against the Hollow, allowing it to slightly overpower him and push him back. "Bankai…"
--
"You're not so tough anymore, are you?" The blue behemoth taunted. He tightly held the collar of the bleeding Orange haired man, lifting him off the ground. "You should've just joined us…" cocking a massive arm back, he slammed hard into Ichigo, sending him soaring into a rocky wall forming an impressively sized impact crater. Miko laughed loudly at this sudden change in events, not finding it boring at all that his opponent wasn't even fighting back.
'…Rukia…' Ichigo groaned as he slowly stood up, watching the arrancar with caution. '…what the hell is taking you so long…?' Just moments ago, he had to watch his wife crash through the ceiling and fall to the ground, in order to give her a chance to check up on everyone else's situation. '…those inflatable gigais had better been worth it, Urahara…' he growled within his own thoughts, '…I bet you made a fortune just off of me…'
"You must be so disheartened…" Mikio teased again with a cruel snarl, "…losing a loved one like that…" He punched his fist into his other hand, readying to pummel into the surely injured Ichigo some more. "Don't worry, shinigami…I'll send you to her soon…"
"Ichigo!!" a woman's voice called out from behind him. "Ichigo!!" Looking back to the voice calling his name, Ichigo smirked at the condition of his wife waving from above the hill of debris. Then, a second and third head of raven hair popped up, though the middle person's identity was much more relieving.
"Dad!!" the young voice called out as well, and though injured and clutching onto her right arm, it seemed that Aiko was more than alright.
"…the…hell…?" oblivious to their entire plan, Mikio turned back to see the three women watching the fight. "…" he growled loudly, clasping the handle of his still sheathed zanpakuto.
"Now then…" a deep and guttural voice addressed the arrancar, and the desire to kill pulled his attention back to where his opponent had been. As he turned around, Mikio was greeted by the demonic eyes and mask of a vizard, and felt the cold black blade cutting through the hierro of his stomach. With a look of sadistic satisfaction, Ichigo cleaved the Arrancar in half, and disappeared from sight through sheer speed. Reappearing right behind the falling two halves, he raised his arm above his head, before slashing downwards with as much intensity as possible. "GETSUGA TENSHO!!!"
--
What's going on? Why…why is everything…
"You're wondering what's happening?" the bushy haired shinigami stepped into the Hollow's view, somehow uninjured and moving about freely. "I don't feel like explaining right now…I got some seriouswounds to tend to."
You bastard! How dare you make fun of me like this!!
"…" The spinning, spiraling tower of sand was now focused around Chin's zanpakuto, as if holding a leash to an entire sandstorm. "SAND WAVE!!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…Chin…?" the voice, though echoed in his head, was full of concern.
"Hmmm?"
"…Chin…" it called his name again with familiarity, concerned but no longer laced with as much fear as before.
"…w-wake me up later…" Looking for the alarm, his hand pressed against something warm and-
"CHIN!!"
A heavy hit on his head sent him back to consciousness, as the filled back into his eyes only to add to the throbbing pain. "Gah!" Chin yelped out, sitting up while clutching his aching head. Looking around, he noticed the group of injured people gathering around, sitting about in a circle or standing and looking up to the blue sky above them. "…?"
Chin's eyes moved over to his left, where he noticed Tatsuki and Urahara lowering an injured Renji to rest against a large rock. "You idiot…" he heard her say with a light tone of voice, as smiles were exchanged between them.
Glancing in front of him, the husband and wife greeted each other with a loving embrace, checking over each other's injuries with concern and happiness.
Turning his gaze to his right, he was surprised to be greeted by an intense blushing as Aiko looked away in the other direction, tightly wrapping her arms around her body in some reactionary way. "…you ok, kid?" he asked her, only bringing about a girlish noise from the teenager. "…?"
"Y-you don't remember, do you?" continuing her job of taking a wet rag to wipe off more dried blood from his face, Ururu asked Chin with a bit of confusion.
Confused himself, Chin shook his head softly as the woman held his head to wipe off his forehead. He saw the still blushing Aiko take a soft glance toward him, but quickly retracted and looked away in a panic when she saw she was caught. "Huh…?" oblivious, she felt the purple haired woman shift her weight to stand up, and watched her move over to help the others.
Author's Notes: So...what did you think?
I hope you enjoyed this long (so long) story, and I've enjoyed the feeling of knowing people read what I write. I want to thank all of you who've reviewed, those of you who've placed this story as a favorite or on your update lists!
So many thanks go out to RadiantBeam for letting me swipe her characters and totally ruin them (Like I really think that, ha!). Big thanks go out to Tite Kubo for creating Bleach and such.
Again, thank you! Arigato! Grazie! Salamat! Merci! Danke!
Thanks.
...legalities...
All characters are based in an post-Aizen AU where Ichigo and Rukia got...it...on! Which the canon story is created by Tite Kubo
--
-- Omake --
--
Rushing through the wooden floored hallway, a panicked Uryuu looked back and forth through every room without breathe in his lungs. Nearly an hour ago, he ran straight out of the hospital waiting room and drove as recklessly as he could to where he felt Setsuko's reiatsu, and now was in a panic to the consequences to his absent mindedness.
He felt a presence in the room ahead of him, where the hallway ended, and burst through the paper door to-
"-Oh…Ishida-sensei…" a deep voice greeted him, not keeping the large man named Tessai from pouring another perfect cup of tea even as he looked at the breathless doctor in front of him. "Is everything alright?" he asked while wearing a pair of fluffy cat ears and a pink apron; his face was clearly covered in a heavy foundation of blush, eyeliner and lipstick.
Confused, Uryuu looked around, seeing the small lion plushy dressed in a frilly dress tied down to a baby's highchair with its mouth taped shut. Next to them, he noticed the three modsouls within their own plushy bodies, and two girls serving and offering tea and cookies onto the doily covered table. "Hey there, Ishida-sensei! Is something the matter?" Emiko, dressed in a traditional yutaka greeted as she took a small sip of tea.
"Ohaiyo gousaimasu, Ojou-sama…" his eyes turned to the smaller girl, who, though dressed quite similarly to the older teenager, looked much differently because of the white skin tone and heavy red lips to give her a geisha look. She bowed reverently while sitting on the floor, taking the role quite seriously while dressed up. Finally, sitting back up in a regular seiza, she blinked before tilting her head just slightly. "…where's everyone else…?"
"…"