Ishida sketched at his desk under a light. Although his father wanted him to become a doctor, Ishida knew in his heart he wasn't cut out for medical school. If he wanted to a scholarship to Bunka Fashion College—the most prestigious fashion school in Japan—he needed to have a stellar portfolio. If he became a fashion designer, his father would surely disown him. Perfect.

Ishida felt his head twitch as the rise in reiatsu was apparent. The Shinigami's had been fighting for a short while, but the number of hollows seemed to be increasing exponentially. It bothered him, but that was Shinigami business, not a Quincy's problem. His eyes went wide when he felt Orihime's reiatsu appear. It hummed like a song against the rhythms of Shinigami spirit power. Argh, that woman, he scolded. Why did she decide to join the fight?

Sighing, Ishida stood up from his work and slid a Quincy glove over his hand.

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"Renji, you ass! Stop using Zabimaru so much and just kill these damn things!" Ichigo shouted. The wild strokes of using Zabimaru like a whip ended up causing more harm than good. As the extended sections of Renji's blade moved through the air, he ended up cutting more pieces off the creatures' bodies, which turned into more hollows.

This was getting out of control. Rukia mentally counted the number of hollows that had formed since the first cuts were made. 3 became 15. 15 became 33. 33 now became 51. Using kido was pointless unless the blast hit them in the mask and simply injuring the hollow just sprouted more.

"Renji, some are heading for the town! You take care of them and we'll get the rest!" Rukia barked orders to the Vice-Captain.

"Where the hell do you think I'm going?" Renji yelled back to her, already moving along treetops after the rouge hollows.

Dammit Renji, look what at what a mess you made! Rukia cursed to herself. As the next in command to her brother, she thought he would have known better. But then again, he was Renji: impatient, headstrong and reckless.

Her fuming thoughts were interrupted by a strong flick of one of the hollow's tails smacking her in the side. Rukia sailed through the air and slammed into Ichigo chest, making him lose his balance. They fell together, straight down in an open clearing. Ichigo hit the ground first, dust kicking up around his robes. She landed on him within milliseconds, ending up nose to nose with the orange-haired firecracker when she pushed herself up. She moved her legs and shockingly realized she was straddling him.

"Rukia, what the hell happened?" Ichigo said, his eyes closed tight from the hard landing. He opened them to send a death glare but the fire quickly died when he noticed how close she was to him. Rukia's eyes were wide with disbelief and a quick flush of pink reached her cheeks. His eyes darted around her dark black locks to see no less than ten hollows rushing towards them; mouths open to devour their souls.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" he shouted and flung Zangetsu across his body, holding Rukia tight against him so she wouldn't be harmed from the crescent blast. He grasped her so close against his chest she could easily breathe in the smell of sweat, dirt and that crisp scent that was distinctly Ichigo. Luckily, all the hollows' masks were facing him, so they dissolved into the air once the black light hit them.

Panting, Ichigo put his head back against the ground and looked at Rukia. It was hard not to notice how pretty she was now that she was laying on him with her face so close. His arm was still wrapped around her tiny waist in a protective manner.

Testosterone pumping through his system, his eyes instinctively drifted down from her face to her neck and… he stopped and turned red, quickly pulling his gaze up to her. "Uh, Rukia…?" he said quietly. His eyes darted from her face to her chest. Her robes had dislodged a bit and he could see clearly down to the curves of her breasts.

At his reaction, Rukia snapped her head down to see what the commotion was about, flushed from pink to bright red and clutched her garment closed. "Pervert!" she screamed, and thrust the heel of her hand directly at Ichigo's nose. She pushed herself off of him and bounded away to kill the remaining hollows. As Ichigo laid there for a few seconds, wiping blood off his nose, he couldn't help but hear Kon's voice in his head.

Nice view.

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Tatsuki held Ben-Ten's hand as they walked down the street. "Do you know where you live?" the strong teenager asked the fragile child.

Ben-Ten looked around at where they were, not far from the store and shook her head no. She sniffled and squeezed Tatsuki's hand. "Well let's find a nice police officer and he can find your house." Tatsuki's voice was soothing over the child's sobs.

"Will you come with me, Onee-chan?" Ben-Ten asked with huge, pleading eyes. They glinted silver even in the night.

Tatsuki suddenly looked up into the sky head of them, hearing the metallic screams of hollows sound through the air. Not good, she bit her lip. "Um, let's look around over here to find an officer." Tatsuki walked faster, practically dragging the child down the street to a well-lit area near a pay phone. She cursed herself at forgetting her cellular at home.

"Onee-chan!" Ben-Ten cried out. She stopped in her tracks and pointed into the sky. "What is that monster?!"

Tatsuki spun to see a large, snake-like hollow heading towards them, ready to open its mouth and take their souls. She quickly turned to Ben-Ten and kneeled, grasping her shoulders with both hands. "Whatever you do, don't open you eyes okay?" She spoke with a waver in her voice, not sure what her next move would be.

"I'll protect you, no matter what." She gave the girl a grin of reassurance but her eyes said otherwise. Nevertheless, Ben-Ten nodded fiercely and shut her eyes tight. Tatsuki wrapped her body around the child to protect her and expected the worse.

She waited and the hollow didn't come. Instead, she saw a man dressed in black samurai clothing appear between herself, Ben-Ten and the monster. With a war cry, the longhaired redhead sliced his sword through the hollow's face, and the creature dissolved in front of them. She looked at him with wide eyes as the light evening breeze kicked back some of his robes and revealed tribal body tattoos. "Abarai?" she spoke with surprise.

Renji spun with the realization that Tatsuki could see him plain as day. "Arisawa? How the hell can you see me?" More screams from hollows came closer. He held up a finger to her face as if he was scolding her. "Hold that thought. This won't take long." With a light push, he was sailing through the air, using various items to gain momentum as the hollows approached.

Tatsuki watched as Renji skillfully used his blade to kill the creatures. She almost relaxed with the knowledge that Renji was a Shinigami, like Ichigo and Rukia.

Almost. She looked up in horror as a hollow slipped past Renji, approaching from the side of the street.

No.

It came quickly, the gap closing faster than she could image.

NO.

The hollow motioned to open its jaw, ready to strike.

"NO!" Tatsuki heard herself cry out. Her arms moved, their muscles trained in high levels of a black belt in Karate. She felt her fist thrust forward, connecting with the hollow's mask right between the eyes. It screamed and writhed in the street, then steadied itself for another attack. Tatsuki held her ground. She would not break her promise to Ben-Ten.

Tatsuki lifted her hands in front of her, prepared for another strike. The hollow started to move towards her but suddenly stopped. She watched in shock as a crack began to form on the spot she punched. The crack grew, a beam of light emitting from it as the hollow's mask split open. Then the monster's body dissolved in front of her.

"Now that was impressive for a human," Renji said with a low whistle.

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PLEASE READ AND REVIEW

Updates on Tuesdays and Fridays!

Well things seem to be going along quickly on my end, so I may move the updating schedule up a bit.
The chapters are short so this may leave people wanting more. I'll see what my beta says and what you guys think ;)

Thank You to Pippin's Socks for Beta reading! ::huggies::