Disclaimer - I do not own either Bleach or Kingdom Hearts!

(Note – The numbers don't mean anything, they are simply there for breaks in the story.)

~ 7th Chapter Begins! ~

Last Time - The wind blew, rustling through her hair, and as she took a deep breath, the five black, yellow eyed creatures attacked.

~ 484848 ~

"Look out!"

Crash …

Dust rose up from the impact, glass and other objects lay scattered from the collision. A nice dent that resembled a whole was now in the side of a building.

"Damn." Kinshiba grunted as he staggered to his feet, using his sword to help. The sounds of fighting carrying in the distance, telling Kinshiba he had a few seconds. Wiping the blood that trailed down his face, Kinshiba looked up into the sky to see Ichigo engaged with both Arrancar's.

With a deep breath Kinshiba launched himself into the sky to aid Ichigo. In the back of his mind, noting that his body was sluggish and his left arm was on fire. Ichigo looked better but if they didn't finish this fight soon they were going to be in trouble.

~ 484848 ~

"You bastards!" Ichigo cursed as he slammed one Arrancar into the pavement below. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a 'cero'. With a well timed jump, Ichigo avoided the blast.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo shot towards the only Arrancar still in the air.

As the blue light soared at the Arrancar, Ichigo swung his attention to the now recovered Arrancar on the ground below.

"I've got this one Ichigo! You handle that one!"

With a grunt Ichigo turned back to the other Arrancar, not bothering to acknowledge Kinshiba's words vocally.

Shooting forward, Ichigo swung his blade at an arc and clipped the Arrancar's arm. An angry shout followed and with a swipe of his arms swung at the orange haired teen.

Ichigo blocked both arms and pushed in an attempt to break the contact, but the Arrancar returned the same amount of force causing a momentary stalemate.

Heaving, Ichigo loosened his grasp and flash stepped backwards, out of reach of the Arrancar, avoiding the hit. Then flash stepped to appear behind the Arrancar and in one quick movement, sliced his blade across the Arrancar's back.

The Arrancar let loose a furious shout of rage, and before Ichigo could move or properly defend himself, he was backhanded.

Balancing himself Ichigo wiped the blood from his face with an irritated scowl.

He couldn't believe he was having this much trouble with an Arrancar, it wasn't even an Espada. It was ridicules. He could always pull out his mask, if he did this fight would be over in a flash but … he didn't dare to do so with Kinshiba here.

Besides … if he had to pull out his mask just to take care of an Arrancar that wasn't in Aizen's top ten then he wouldn't stand much of a chance against even the lowest level of Espada. Or maybe they were all just getting stronger … that was a bit discerning.

"Die!"

Ichigo was broken from his inner thoughts at the sound of Kinshiba's voice and glanced down and over to find Kinshiba still engaged and trying to kill his opponent.

Obviously Kinshiba was just as irritated and frustrated with the situation as he was.

Sighing Ichigo brought his focus back on the Arrancar that was strangely staring at him. With a raise of an eyebrow, Ichigo gripped his sword and leveled a glare. To him it seemed like the Arrancar was observing him …

With his scowl still in place Ichigo stared hard, trying to find the other's weakness. For the most part he attacked with his arms; his skin was tough and durable; not easy to pierce. But it was possible, seeing as he had damaged the other a few times …

Also the Arrancar had yet to remove his sword, which Ichigo found puzzling, it either meant that the Arrancar was confident that he would win without needing to release it or he was stupid. Or maybe the Arrancar was very strong in that form and …

… argh …

It didn't matter; he would just kill the Arrancar before he released his zanpakuto.

Ichigo pushed all other thoughts to the back of his mind as he charged at the other, he wasn't one to try and find a weakness. He would just attack and find an opening and then kill it …

A resounding clash echoed at impact…

Scowling more deeply, Ichigo inwardly cursed. The Arrancar hadn't blocked with his arms this time, instead he and unsheathed his zanpakuto.

"Dammit!" Ichigo cursed as he was thrown backwards. Wind rushing all around him, the area blurring together as he fell.

After tumbling a good few feet away, he managed to right himself. His head shot up to where the Arrancar was, only…

"Shoot!"

Ichigo swung his blade to his left side, blocking the Arrancar's swing. The other pulled up and slammed his blade down only to have it blocked again by the orange haired soul reapers zanpakuto.

Once again a stale mate ensued.

"Curse you soul reaper." The Arrancar spoke, his voice low and smooth. "I will kill you."

"Heh." Ichigo scoffed. "Not on your life."

The Arrancar pressed harder with his dark green and gray zanpakuto. "You mean yours, don't you soul reaper?"

"No." Having enough of the current conversation, Ichigo muttered; "Getsuga Tensho!"

The Arrancar's eyes went wide, but with his zanpakuto against Ichigo's he didn't have time to avoid the hit.

The bright blue light ripped through the Arrancar and in a small explosion he vanished.

Heaving and panting Ichigo muttered, "About time …"

Catching his breath and ignoring the sweat that ran down in little rivers he swung around as a cry of pain reached his ears.

Eyes landing on the fallen, crumpled form of Kinshiba, Ichigo propelled forward as the Arrancar launched a 'cero'.

"Kinshiba!"

Cursing inwardly, knowing that he wouldn't make it in time, but he kept going forward regardless.

Before him Kinshiba struggled to defend himself, even though he couldn't even stand.

Panic shot through Ichigo, stopping he shouted;" Getsuga …"

Before he could finish uttering the name of his zanpakuto a shot of white flashed from behind Kinshiba and swallowed up the 'cero' and struck the Arrancar.

"What?"

Blinking Ichigo took in the now frozen Arrancar and couldn't keep himself from gapping like an idiot.

"You're hopeless without me Ichigo."

"Wha…"

"Don't just stand there gapping like a fish! Finish the Arrancar off!"

Senses coming back Ichigo finished saying his zanpakuto's name and the bright blue light struck the frozen creature, effectively killing it. Though being frozen in a block of ice had most likely already killed it.

Sighing Ichigo replaced his zanpakuto on his back and turned to the newcomer who was now besides a very badly injured Kinshiba.

Walking up to the two Ichigo called out, "What took you so long Rukia!"

"Please Ichigo. I can't believe you had this much trouble. At first I didn't think I would need to come seeing as there were only two but I say it's a good thing I did come. I would have been here sooner but I was at Urahara's shop."

"Che, lame excuse …"

Smack

"Agh … That hurt! What was that for Rukia?" Ichigo cried as he held the forming bump on his head.

"That Ichigo was for being you."

Glaring Ichigo removed his hands and scowled at the ground, least he wanted to get hit again.

"Anyways, we need to get Kinshiba to Urahara's shop so that Tessai can heal him." Rukia voiced as she slowly got him into an upright position.

The concern came flooding back as Ichigo got a better look at the fallen warrior. Blood soaked the man's clothes, his left arm was most likely broken, some skin was missing from the side of his face and one eye was swollen shut. There was a deep jagged wound down his back that was losing the most blood, luckily Kinshiba was unconscious, and so he was not feeling any of the pain that his body was definitely in.

Not wasting any more time Ichigo with the help of Rukia got Kinshiba on his back. Once he was sure that Kinshiba wasn't going to fall, both he and Rukia sprinted in the direction of Urahara's shop; going as fast as they could and dared to.

~ 484848 ~

"Ha! Take that!" A rather loud voice shouted.

A loud shriek pierced the night as the lowly hollow vanished.

Renji grinned at the last two hollows before him, Zabimaru placed vertically in front ready to strike. They didn't stand a chance against him. They just didn't know it …

A few paces away stood captain Kuchiki, who was dealing with an Arrancar. Not an Espada but defiantly close to one. But being a captain, this Arrancar was no challenge. But all; or most tended to be deluded and blind, which usually costed them. And this Arrancar was no different.

They had been scouting some time ago when they felt the spirit energy of two high power level Arrancar's, then they had received word via their soul phone. On their way to the source they had been ambushed by over thirty hollows, some stronger than others.

As Renji did most of the fighting, seeing as they weren't that difficult to handle, an Arrancar showed up. Attempting to skewer Renji but was unable to the prevention of Captain Kuchiki. To prevent any problems and to end the fight quickly captain Kuchiki stepped in to face the newcomer.

"Roar Zabimaru!"

With a shriek the last two hollows vanished, leaving a wide cocky grin on the victor. Vaguely wishing that there was still more as he had barely broke a sweat and wanted a decent challenge.

"Senbonzakura." The smooth, monotone voice echoed in the now rather quite night. In a flash of pink the Arrancar vanished and with a furious shriek disappeared.

"Didn't take long at all." Renji uttered as the last few petals of pink dispersed. His zanpakuto already in its sheath.

"Come Renji."

Blinking Renji nodded, his features schooling, "Hai captain."

The two vanished leaving behind not a trace of their presence.

~ That's the end of chapter seven! ~

I tried to make it longer but … it just wasn't happening. I am sorry for any misspelled words and for any out of characters.