Chapter 6
Out of the rip of space, connecting Hueco Mundo to Karakura Town, twelve hollows rushed out into the night ready to feast on the souls of defenseless humans. In one direction, three hollows descended on an old man walking home from a late night at the office. Without any knowledge of the terrors invisible to a being that cannot sense spiritual pressure, the man hobbled along with his cane grumbling about his ruthless boss. The man couldn't be less aware of it but he was surrounded by a hollow with a hairy body, two green wings and silver talons, a giant humanoid shaped hollow the size of a small edifice, and a four legged hollow with a scorpion stinger tail. The three monsters closed in on the elderly man, their eyes shining with the lust of murder.
Before the hollows could attack, a long blade with several segments flew forward and with three swings, slashed all the beasts. As if they were made from sugar cubes, each beast felt into pieces and dissipated as the sword went through their bodies. The long sectioned Zanpakuto, known as Zabimaru , retracted to the size of a normal sword as its wielder, the Soul Reaper Renji Abarai hopped from the street to a tall building to fight the next of the twelve released hollows.
At the same time, not far down the road from where Renji had protected the old man, a homeless lady laid on a bench at the train station attempting catch this evening's sleep. Four hollows, each resembling a black two legged lizard wearing a skull mask with blood red eyes, crept towards the sleeping lady. Saliva fell from the mouths of a couple of these dwellers of Hueco Mundo, as their long pink tongues licked their lips. The woman sensed troubled and slowly opened her eyes. Having experienced a few near death experiences in her life, this lady was slightly more spiritually aware then most humans, and could see the monsters walking close to her. The woman let out a terrified scream but she was to petrified with fear to do anything else to get away. The hollows continued to move towards her anxiously awaiting their feast on her soul.
With no warning, the blue outline of a circle appeared on the ground around the four monsters. In a matter of a second, a massive surge of ice spiritual energy shot forward out of the circle towards the sky. When the energy faded away, all four of the hollows had been frozen. The ice sculptures begun to crack, and suddenly shattered leaving nothing of the hollows. The Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchki looked from a distance at her Zanpakuto's handy work, noticed the woman was okay and just shook the experience off towards a drunk nightmare, and moved on to stop the rest of the hollows.
Renji and Rukia moved swiftly throughout the town eliminating the hollow visitors. Each monster fell with ease at the blades of the highly ranked and well trained Shingami. Rukia was the first to flash step onto the roof of a tall warehouse to overlook the south side of Karakura Town, and her friend Renji appeared shortly after. For two warriors that grew up together, based off of their appearances, it was clear that Renji and Rukia had two very different lives. Rukia, with short jet black hair and wise blue eyes, stood with poise as she conducted herself in a reserved and well mannered way. An adopted member of the royal Kuchki clan, Rukia had quickly learned the importance of pride and the discipline of good edict. Renji, on the other hand, had long flowing red hair tied back in a ponytail, several facial tribal tattoos, and hard wild hazel eyes. Though a lieutenant in squad 6 now, Renji started out as a solider in the warlike squad 11 and still held true the heart of a fighter.
"That seems to be all of them." Renji said as he transformed his Zanpakuto to its regular sword form and sheaved it.
"I can't believe how many came out of one hole!" Rukia replied as she processed the recent events. "I've been around Karakura town often now, and typically we see one or maybe two at a time…but twelve? That's unheard of!"
"What I want to know is where the hell is Ichigo tonight when his town is being overrun by all these hollows?" Renji demanded, "He is the substitute soul reaper of Karakura Town after all!"
"I am surprised he isn't here too." Rukia reflected on her friend, worried about his current condition. "Though Ichigo hasn't been himself lately. You know, ever since…"
"Yeah…" Renji agreed, as Rukia trailed off unable to speak of the tragic event. "Ever since Orihime. From what I've heard he has hardly done much work in his soul form. Reports I've read about him say he's just been hanging around at Kiskuke Urahara's place. Luckily, Chad and Uryu have been picking up the slack, it seems."
Renji stopped for a moment and then decided it was time for the two soul reapers to get back on task. He spoke once more, "It's a good thing we showed up when we did, but let's not forget while we're here, Rukia. The Captain Commander want us to look into that Hell Stone business and try to track down the soul reaper that stole it! I trust I don't have to tell you what that stone does, right?"
"Yeah I read the report too…" Rukia agreed, "Paired with an ancient chalice, the Hell Stone can open a portal to the Void...which currently houses the Soul Society's most dangerous criminals that were deemed to dangerous for Hueco Mundo exile. We should continue our search!"
As the two began to leave the rooftop, Rukia paused and turned her head to the direction of Urahara's house. "Ichigo," She thought, "I hope you're okay. You're one of the strongest people I know. If anyone can overcome this tragedy, I know you can! Now more then ever, your town needs you…What could you possibly be doing right now?"
Tatsuki's eyes widened as terror had sliced into her soul, as she began to feel her stomach telling her that she was hungry. The young woman, unlinked from her physical body at the bottom of a hole recalled what Ichigo had told her right after he kicked her in the hole:
"Listen carefully, this is the life threatening part I was telling you about…you need to know a few things that are about to happen." The memory of Ichigo's voice rang in her head, "Do you see the remains of your soul chain on your chest? You will notice very soon that little by little, the links will turn into little soul monsters and they will start eating the chain itself. You need to awaken your soul reaper form BEFORE that happens. If you don't, I am afraid you will become a hollow."
"What!?" Tatsuki had demanded, "How am I supposed to do that?"
"You need get out of that hole." Ichigo then responded, "Make it to the top in your soul form, and you will be a soul reaper. You have around three days, before your soul chain is completely eaten…and then you will be a hollow and I will have to kill you. There is one more thing to, Tatsuki. When you start getting hungry, you know the hollow transformation is about to take place."
Tatsuki's mind fluttered back into reality as the pain of her soul chain being devoured by the little teeth monsters on her chest was taking place. She fell to the ground and cringed as she felt death quickly approaching. She had tried for what seemed like an eternity to climb up the hole back to where Ichigo sat silently waiting. It was too steep, and to high. Her martial arts training would let her get at least halfway up, but then she would fall back on her bottom. She had been able to simply curse, dust herself off, rise to her feet, and try again, but recently fatigue was beginning to settle in. And now, the woman in spirit form began to feel those uncomfortable stomach pains of malnourishment. The end seemed near.
Tatsuki laid at the bottom of the hole in the fetal position crying out as she hurt more. Sweat rolled off her chin as she opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of the last little bit of soul chain fading away. Tatsuki yelled even louder fearing for her life, and what would happen if she became one of those terrible soul eating monsters that she had seen a few times in the past.
"ICHIGO HELP ME!" Tatsuki cried out in hysteria.
And then it happened…in a matter of seconds, Tatsuki was in the hole, and then she wasn't. As if it was a dream where one's location changes at the flip of a hat, Tatsuki found herself standing in a field with dark purple grass and a sky that was a rainbow of shifting colors. It was, beautiful and unsettling at the same time. It was warm and pleasant, but Tatsuki felt at ease as if there was a lurking danger. There was no noise, and Tatsuki no longer was in any kind of pain.
She quickly examined herself. She was standing upright, not at all injured and without any soul chain. Her clothing had changed completely, and she was no longer sweaty or covered in dirt. Tatsuki's eyes went from examining herself to observing the strange surroundings again. It wasn't long before she realized that she was not alone in this strange world.
From the distance, Tatsuki caught glimpse of a bright red lion with mane made out of fire and golden eyes that radiated with power, rage, wisdom, and discipline. It was massive, and its tail also had fire at its tip. The lion looked straight back at Tatsuki as she noticed it, and the young girl couldn't felt that this terrifying majestic beast was peering deep into her soul.
"Ichigo was telling me about this…" Tatsuki said to herself as she considered this strange land she had found herself in. She looked back at the beast and yelled at it, "Hey! You're my spirit animal, or Zanpakuto right? I see what happened…I just somehow entered into my own soul or something?"
"What child is this that she lays ownership on me?" The lion's deep voice bellowed out with such power that the ground itself begun to tremble. Tatsuki shivered in fear, the beast seemed much more dangerous as it spoke. "The audacity of an insect like you to call me an animal, as if I was your pet to be tamed? Little girls must be taught respect by their elders. It has been thousands of years since any mere human has been able to be in my presence without burning into pieces…I wonder if this child can even utter my name?"
A/N: Any guesses on what Tatsuki's Zanpakuto's name is going to be? Feel free to send them in and see how right/wrong you are in the next chapter!
Special thanks to those of you that have dropped reviews in the past few days! They are incredibly encouraging and/or helpful for me to receive. For example, Queen Karin in her review helped me see that I have not been properly writing in Ichigo's emotion to Orihime's death in this story so I will be trying to adjust his character a bit in future chapters...and if I am especially dedicated I will adjust him in previous chapters when the story is finished. All that to say, your feedback is appreciated =D
Until next time, thanks for reading!