Chapter 11
Ichigo's P.O.V.
Finally. For once, I'm glad to be at school. It's now things like this that are a rarity, just being able to at least act normal. At the vey least, it's better than Zera beating on me every chance she got in our training sessions. Since we still have a few days, Zera has been hanging out with Kisuke and the others for the time being.
"Hey, Ichigo!" Tatsuki called out, coming towards me with Chad, Orihime, and Uryu.
"Oh, hey guys." I said.
"You know, we now spend so much time together that being apart feels kind of funny." Orihime said with a giggle.
"Guess that's an upside to all of this." Uryu said.
"No kidding. I'll actually be sad once we leave." Tatsuki added.
"But just like we come here, we have to go back eventually." Chad said.
"Well, technically we don't have to. It's just best if we do." Uryu said.
"Thanks for making it about facts, Uryu." I dead panned. Sadly, that moment of peace didn't last longer after that. I could tell they all felt what I suddenly felt. Spirit energy. Large amounts of it, all near by.
"...Guys, do you feel that?" I asked, even if I knew the answer.
"Yeah. And it's obvious what kind of people they belong to." Orihime answered.
"So, you've finally come out." someone called out.
We all looked in the direction of the voice. It just a few other Soul Reapers, one of them was wearing a white coat, so that means he was a Captain. The ones next to him was woman with orange hair, a bald guy, and some other guy who just looked like a pretty boy.
"So, these are the people causing so much trouble." the bald guy said.
"They don't look all that tough to me." the woman said.
"Who are you guys, and what are you doing here?" I said.
"My name is Captain Hitsugaya of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. And when all of your spirit energies finally reappeared in the World of the Living, we weren't exactly going to just let you all go into hiding again." he said.
"'All'?" Tatsuki said.
"The other two girls. They are being dealt with by Renji and another Soul Reaper." the bald guy explained. Two girls...Yuzu and Karin!
"You bastards! Leave them out of this!" I shouted.
"They have the same powers you do, so that's likely not happening." the pretty boy said.
I couldn't help but get angrier and angrier by the second. They were trying to kill Yuzu and Karin! I had to get past these guys as soon as possible! With that in mind, I just left my body. Knowing he was Captain and that my sisters may be in danger, I decided to go all out from the beginning.
"Bankai!" I chanted. My outfit changed like it always does while my spirit energy instantly increased.
"What!?" Hitsugaya exclaimed. After using my Bankai, I immediately Hollowfied as well.
"Oh man. The reports were true after all." the woman said. I was getting ready to attack them, but that was when someone placed a hand on my shoulder. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw Uryu was the one right behind me.
"Ichigo, calm down. If you're that worried, you go and help Yuzu and Karin. We'll deal with these four." Uryu said.
"He's right. They'll need your help." Chad added. For once, I didn't argue about leaving them to fight. I was too worried about Yuzu and Karin. I took off as fast as I could. I could hear the Soul Reapers telling me to stop, but I just kept going.
Karin's P.O.V.
"Wah!" Yuzu cried, getting hit again.
"Yuzu!" I exclaimed, catching her in my arms to keep her from falling back.
I don't know why, but just in the middle of the school day, the same Soul Reaper with red hair from the other day, Renji, and some random Soul Reaper showed up and attacked me and Yuzu. We couldn't exactly leave our bodies for one of them to attack, so we only had our Hollowfication, hado and bakudo spells, our Quincy powers, which we had no choice but to use. And we had to face facts, we were getting our butts kicked.
"From what I was told, you guys were supposed to be stronger." Renji said.
Another reason we were getting beaten so badly was because he was using his Shikai while Yuzu and I didn't even have our Zanpakutos. The other Soul Reaper we could take without our weapons, so Renji was the only real problem.
"Shut up." I said, creating my bow and arrow again to try and aim at him. While I did that, Yuzu got back onto her feet and was quicker than I was at getting another spell ready.
"Hado number 31: Shakkaho!" Yuzu chanted. Her attack was aimed directly at the two Soul Reapers, but they both jumped out of the way.
"Hah. If that's the best you can do, then this will be easier than I thought." Renji said. That was when I aimed my arrow and released it, hitting the ground where Renji was standing since he moved again.
"I said shut it! Just wait, when Ichigo show's up, then you're dead." I said. As much I don't want to depend on my big brother, he is still stronger than either Yuzu and I.
"What? Waiting for your little friend?" Renji mocked.
"He's not our friend, he's our big brother!" Yuzu blurted out.
"Yuzu!" I shouted at her. I loved my sister, but when she does stupid things like that, I just want to slug her!
"He's your brother, huh? Then you may be right, he may show up. We'll just end this quickly." Renji said.
"Damn. Yuzu, think you can handle this?" I asked. We had both taken some damage. Still, Yuzu got onto her feet and got her own Quincy bow and arrow ready.
"Yeah. But, I don't know how long we'll last as we are, Karin." Yuzu said.
"Man, for once, I wish we took Zera's lessons on fighting without weapons seriously." I said with a dry chuckle.
"If we get through this, let's agree to do that." Yuzu said, also letting out a small laugh.
"Done. And it's 'when' we get through this." I said. Even if I said that, I wish I was as confident as I sounded.
Zera's P.O.V.
Jeez, just sitting around in Kisuke's store is so boring. I mean, watching Jinta and Ururu argue only to be separated by Tessai was fun, but it got old awhile ago.
"Zera, is something wrong?" Yoruichi asked, in her human form, sitting down beside me.
"I'm bored!" I complained, like the kid I appeared to be.
"Hehe. You know, you could go back to Hueco Mundo and wait for the time to pick them up. It's not like anything bad will-" Yoruichi began to say, but then stopped talking.
"Yoruichi?" I said, wondering what was wrong.
Before I could ask what was wrong, I finally felt it. The spirit energies of Soul Reapers, all near Ichigo's and Karin's schools. That must've been why Yoruichi stopped talking. I recognized one being Renji's and one being a random Captain's. The others were just random, but powerful Soul Reapers.
"Kisuke!" I called out. He was already right behind me and Yoruichi.
"I know. I can recognize that one of them is a Captain, and the rest except for two at least are Lieutenants." Kisuke explained.
"One of them must be Renji! The Captain definitely isn't Byakuya though." I said, shooting to my feet.
"The people in the Soul Society must've been waiting for everyone to leave Hueco Mundo." Tessai said, coming out of another room.
"You mean they were waiting to attack everyone once they came back!?" I exclaimed.
"That seems to be the case." Kisuke said. Gah, I was such an idiot! I should've seen this coming.
"I gotta go help them." I said, trying to leave. But before I could get out the door, Tessai stopped me by lifting me off the ground.
"Tessai, put me down!" I protested, thrashing around.
"Calm down and think for a second, Zera." Kisuke said, making me look behind my shoulder, and Tessai.
"Zera, we know you want to help them, we want to too." Yoruichi said.
"But what would happen if you did go? What would they learn?" Kisuke asked.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"Zera, you can't keep fighting for them. Situations like this will definitely happen in the future, and what would happen if you really weren't there?" Kisuke said.
That was actually enough to make me calm down and think. Maybe he was actually right. I mean, look at what happened when I stayed too long when Ichigo was a kid. He may have been kid, but maybe Masaki thought I'd be there for him and her.
"Yeah, but..." I said, not knowing how to argue. That was about when Tessai finally put me down. Yoruichi walked up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"If things feel like they're getting bad, we'll go to help. For now, let them fight." Yoruichi said.
"...Fine." I finally agreed. I knew they were right, but I couldn't help but worry.
Ichigo's P.O.V.
"Yuzu! Karin!" I called out.
I finally made it to Yuzu's and Karin's school where they were fighting, and got there in time to see Renji fighting with his Shikai while the other Soul Reaper was just fighting with his regular Zanpakuto. Yuzu and Karin were Hollowfied and had their Quincy bow and arrow, but there were still in their bodies, so they didn't have their Zanpakutos. It looked like they were losing too.
"Ichigo!" Yuzu exclaimed.
"It's about time." Karin said.
"Well, looks like they were right. You did show up." Renji said.
"Leave them alone, Renji!" I shouted.
"The other guy can handle them from what I've seen. I'll take care of you personally." Renji said. Hearing that, I released my Bankai state. But, with my Hollow mask, I actually took it off and crushed most of the mask in my hand.
"Why'd you get rid of your mask and Bankai? Wearing your mask gives you Hollow powers, doesn't it? I can tell that power has mostly faded already now." Renji asked.
"I've seen your power, I'm sure I won't need them." I said. Also, if I used them any longer than I have, Zera probably would beat me into the ground during every training session for weeks on end.
"Fine. Either way, once we deal with you people, we'll finally be able to take Rukia back with us." Renji said.
"We won't be beaten, so that won't happen." I said.