Chapter 8

Careening through the air the reiatsu cannonball never once fluctuated as everyone evenly channelled their reiatsu into the ball taking responsibility for their sector, the only one who didn't was Yoruichi who was curled around Ichigo's neck possessively.

Seeing the barrier of soul society quickly nearing them Yoruichi called out.

"Brace for impact!"

Everyone tensed as they saw the barrier incoming. The bracing for such a violent impact causing the delicate weaving of the reiatsu cannonball to shred and come undone.

It was then that everyone realised what had happened as the lower section of the ball, the section that had not come undone yet slammed into the barrier, causing a web of cracks to develop in the barrier that soon shattered eliminating the lower section of the cannonball "Yoruichi I have an idea hang on!" holding his hands out in front of him he looked back and glanced briefly at his lover who nodded receiving the silent message.

If everything is to fall into place, everything must be the same.

Nodding Ichigo held out his hands, his left palm down with his right under it, palm up.

Forcing reiatsu into the space between his palms he condensed it, tightened it until he had to force his palms together to keep it under control. With the power generated he began to layer shields of reiatsu over it, reducing the pressure on his palms and increasing the pressure inside the ball.

"Alright everyone grab a partner!" Ichigo commanded as they struggled to grab a partner in their fall, Chad, seeing that Orihime wasn't any closer to anybody else strained his body just enough to push the girl in Ishida's direction which caused him to split further from the group.

"SHIT!" Ichigo swore as he crushed the first layer, forcing his hands down to the centre of the ball causing a whirlwind of condensed reiatsu to blast them in different directions.

Hissing at the sting of the push Ichigo felt Yoruichi slip into his shihakshou as he descended to the ground.

THUMP!

he landed almost silently on the ground, using his reiatsu once more to cushion his landing "c'mon Yoru" his lover slipped back out of his robe and curled up once more around his neck "what do yu want to do first, we have around 12 hours before news reaches the captains and Kenpachi comes after us" Yoruichi yawned "let's go the cave under the sokyoku, we'll resume from here when Kenpachi hears" Ichigo nodded and smirked "wanna ride, or does the cute kitten want to try and keep up" Yoruichi smirked and leaped from her position and landed on the ground "it's a race!" Yoruichi suddenly shot off leaving velocity rings in her wake "tut tut, you should know better kitten" thrusting a bulk of reiatsu unto his feet he extended a slipstream in front of him "your regular technique could never beat mine" he seemed to distort slightly before the earth beneath him cratered for 25 feet in every direction as he led a entrenched path down the centre of the path toward the large hill in the distance.

With Chad!

Finding himself firmly entrenched in the ground the giant of a teen groaned and tore his right shoulder from the rubble. This allowed him to reach over and clear the rubble holding down his left side "I need to find the others" he muttered standing up, much to the chagrin of the shinigami who had surrounded him during his period of delirium.

"Fuck he's one of the invaders!" muttered one of the shinigami behind him.

"What do we do with him?" muttered another "37 south east" he thought, running several plans through his head until he gained a small smile that unnerved the gods of death "like my friend, I will not give up" Chad suddenly spun around, his lumbering frame crashing into 4 of the 7 shinigami sending them backwards into a wall where they collapsed.

"HYAH!" his ears picked up the yell as his peripheral vision allowed him to see the glint of a drawn sword descending towards his skull "hn" crouching he coiled himself like a spring and launched himself forward, his left arm tensed for a right hook that he buried in the shinigami's stomach as he passed then dropped him on the floor and spun to avoid the cutting edge of a katana, using his momentum to knock the wind out of the last one that collapsed in a heap "and that's that" standing up fully he quickly turned off of the main path and began to take to the shadows in order to keep himself hidden.

Throughout all of it though, one question raged in his mind.

"Where are you Ichigo?"

Back with Ichigo

Ichigo patted his chest lightly while he tried to get his breathing under control "you put up a good fight, I'll say that".

Next to him Yoruichi pouted "it's not fair, you're faster than me when you use that" Ichigo smirked and rubbed her furred head whilst looking out over the soul society that seemed to extend forever "what can I say, I like to be original" Yoruichi scoffed "right" Ichigo chuckled and stood up his waraji drawing small clouds of dust as he drew them against the earthen hill of the Sokyoku's resting place "c'mon lets go relax in the hot spring" Yoruichi sighed happily and nodded, hopping onto his shoulder as he disappeared.

Appearing once more at a small cave located in the centre of the hill he let the cat off of his shoulder and watched with a grin as smoke erupted around her. Through the now dwindling smoke a slender, mocha coloured leg revealed itself teasingly as a soft hand stroked along the inner thigh "Ichi kun" that arousing voice that he oh so loved, he felt his pants become tight as Yoruichi revealed herself from the smoke, stark naked with that teasing grin as she sauntered over and draped herself bodily over him, hands clawing and rubbing all his known sensitive areas "Yoru" he groaned as she leaned in and purred a few select phrases in his ear "now, let's go have some fun ne?" she reached down and gently groped his crotch. His answer was to growl gutturally and sweep her into a bridal carry whilst kicking in the iron door to the large artificial landscape.

With Orihime and Ishida

Ishida grunted as they flew through the air as a result of Ichigo's improvised actions "I'm going to kill Kurosaki when I see him" the blue haired Quincy saw the ground quickly approaching and grabbed Orihime by the sleeve causing her to squeak as he pulled her above him in order to cushion her landing. In order to cushion his own he quickly formed a bubble of reiatsu against his back, and when they were just a few meters from the ground he let it detonate which gave him just enough air resistance to land on the ground with only a few scrapes.

"Ugh!" he groaned sitting up slowly while Orihime rolled off of him and nursed the bruise on her arm "Orihime, were most likely going to have to split us, make ourselves scarce" Orihime nodded and backed up against the wall with the Quincy to hide in a small indent in the wall, waiting for the prime opportunity to disrobe some unsuspecting shinigami.

After several minutes of uncomfortable waiting two, lithe shinigami walked past, completely unaware of the invaders that hid only meters from their path.

"Now!" Ishida whispered tensing his body in preparation for the leap he was about to perform "Inoue, now" with a cry they both leapt out and decked the Shinigami nearest them sending them to the ground before they quickly stomped on the back of their skull knocking them out before they dragged them into the small hiding place and switched their uniforms "ok, now let's go"

Back with Ichigo

Ichigo sighed happily as he leaned his head back on the rocks of the heated spring, Yoruichi curled up on his chest after their heated session "you alright Yoru chan", he spoke with a smirk as she shifted slightly to get more comfortable while the purple haired cat woman looked up and glared at him "I'll be walking with a limp for a few days but other than that..." she shifted until she was sat on his lap, her head towering over him as she dipped down to capture his lips in a chaste kiss "we need to prepare, ne" Ichigo smiled into the kiss and pulled away after a few moments to look her in the eyes "don't worry, everything's going to plan" shifting out of the tub Ichigo redid his shihakshou and flashed into the middle of the false environment and flared his reiatsu once whilst charging it throughout his body "stay clear of me Yoruichi, I don't know how this will react".

Slowly, he pulled an orb of writhing reiatsu around him, ramping up the pressure, causing his knees to buckle slightly.

Adding a second layer he grunted painfully as his muscles strained and almost tore from the pressure, "Yoruichi, hit me with a kido!" he shouted as Yoruichi held two fingers up and fired a weakened version of Byakurai at the orb that as it hit, began to glow a blistering white.

It was then the ground cratered.

"SHIT!" Yoruichi using her legendary flash step leapt back toward the backside of the training area to watch as a pressure wave, illuminated by the surrounding vapour tore through 50 meters of outcropping rock.

As the dust from such an improvised technique settled Ichigo was revealed, a single layer of dense compressed reiatsu surrounding him that he slowly dissipated by absorbing the reiatsu and dispersing the excess "what you think of my own creation?" Yoruichi blinked "what was that?" she asked, slightly stunned as Ichigo shrugged nonchalantly "a hado no Ichi:sho projected out from the body".

Yoruichi face fell.

"But the pressure inside should have KILLED you!" again Ichigo shrugged "it's not hard, just flare your spiritual pressure inside the dome and it negates the effects of the crushing pressure that should be concentrated inside the dome, it just projects that pressure outwards and strains against the 'skin' of the orb, you can then layer it to have multiple dispersions, perfect for fighting a close range combatant" Yoruichi's eyebrow ticked; but she took a deep breath and calmed herself down in the face of Ichigo's nonchalant attitude "now, Ichigo lets go back to having fun, ne" Ichigo gulped at the look on Yoruichi's flawless face.

"My backs going to hurt in the morning" She grabbed him and disappeared in a flash.

With the captains

The gotei 13 were line up in two even rows split by the chair of the captain commander Yamamoto "I call this meeting into session!" he tapped his cane and gained the undivided attention of all captains "it has been all but 12 hours since the ryoka have invaded the court of pure souls, captain Kurotsuchi, are you currently tracking them?" Mayuri shook his head "they are somehow evading my tracking devices that have been set up, it's almost like they themselves have enough spiritual pressure to blend in with the shinigami" Yamamoto frowned, this was definitely a troubling development "captain Unohana, your squad is currently the most active around the soul society since the increased hollow attacks, have you located any shinigami that may not be of our ranks" Unohana just smiled gently and shook her head "no commander, they appear to have dropped off of the radar".

Yamamoto glowered in annoyance "everyone is given permission to handle their zanpaktou within the sereitei, if you see one of these ryoka you are to kill them" everyone nodded and began to file out.

"Let us see how you deal with this, my grandson"