DISCLAIMER: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite, Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Bisco Hatori. I like pie. Kamo-chan's mine though. On noez! Original character cameo appearance! XD

Chapter 8: Tag Team

Reinforcements finally arrived. Ichigo heaved a sigh of relief as he spotted Ikkaku and Yumichika darting in for what would normally be a kill. It was like there was a force field around the hollows mask; nothing they did could split the damn thing and no amount of other injuries could down it for long. It had to be feeding off of that weird reiatsu that was flowing freely out of that pipe that was… well, they hadn't gotten a chance to see what, if anything, was under the school now. He made his way to the ground and plopped gratefully down on the grass next to Renji, who was sprawled there with a water bottle on his forehead, Zabimaru was coiled lazily off to the side, apparently watching the action.

"Rukia got it figured out?" Renji grunted.

"Starting to. She thinks she can get it contained but it might be a few minutes." Ichigo sighed, looking around for any more water bottles. "Where'd you get that?"

"Yumi brought it… Oi, Zabimaru!"

The zanpakutou twitched, a bottle of water came flying out of an ice chest that was resting by the massive bone snake. Ichigo caught it and unscrewed the cap, nodding his thanks to the zanpakutou before taking a drink.

They watched as Yumi and Ikkaku struggled with the hollow. The minutes stretched on, the battle raged, and no ground was made. It hadn't been lost either so that was alright. Except for the bit where they wanted to go home at some point.

After about ten minutes, Yumi joined them for a quick breather. "How long had you been fighting this thing?"

Renji scratched his jaw. "About… thirty, maybe forty minutes."

The flamboyant shinigami tisked. "Troublesome creature."

"No kidding." Ichigo snorted.

"I hate to admit it but we need a different kind of attack." He tapped his headset. "Yes, I'd like to request assistance from Suzuki Akane. No, that won't be necessary. Thank you."

"Kamo?" Renji chuckled. "Well, she'll definitely keep it off kilter."

"That's what I was thinking." Yumi sparkled a little.

"Who's coming?" Ichigo furrowed his brow.

"Officially, the only shinigami in the 11th with an energy based shikai." Renji quipped. "She's an odd duck."

Yumi giggled. "Renji, that's terrible!"

"Well, she is!"

Ichigo stared up at the sky as he thought back. "I don't remember any women in the 11th and I'm pretty sure I met everyone at one point or another."

"Ah, Kamo-chan was away when you turned everything upside down. She was very dismayed to discover that she missed all the action." Yumi stretched. "I think I'll go spoil some of Ikkakus fun."

"I think I'll join you." Renji grunted, climbing to his feet and hefting Zabimarus hilt.

"Yeah, may as well jump back in there." Ichigo rose as well.

"Is she drawing a Transmutation Circle?" Karou asked as they piled the last of the debris in the center of the classroom. Tamaki glanced up from where he'd been carefully balancing a desk; looked at the twin, then at the shinigami who was drawing designs in chalk around the capped pipe. Nekozawa hovered over her shoulder, watching curiously.

"Ah, looks like. Rukia-san, is that a Transmutation Circle?"

"Huh?" She didn't look up.

"You know, like in Fullmetal Alchemist?" Kon added helpfully. He was standing - well, more like sitting with his feet dangling over the edge of the shattered roof – watch overhead.

"Sounds familiar." Rukia grunted.

"I thought Karin-chan had the manga." Kon mused.

"Haven't gotten to it yet."

"Ah. Well, it looks like a Transmutation Circle from up here."

It really did; one large circle to contain the spell, two smaller ones in the inside, one dead center, the other offset a little, pentagram, strange symbols, the works. Rukia added a spiral around the pipe – which was in the center of the formation then stood up and dusted off her hands. Content with the circle, she carefully stepped out of it.

"If this book is accurate, there should be a second statue buried somewhere beneath the school." She pointed at the strange statue Nekozawa held then gestured for him to put it in the offset circle, which he did. "It's where all of this reiatsu is coming from. The best way to stop it is to bring the two statues together and destroy them at the same moment but I don't think I can do that."

She pointed at the circle. "This, however, should bind the reiatsu and keep it from leaking out and causing more problems." She stepped into a triangle just outside the circle, each of its corners had circles containing smaller triangles inscribed over them. "Everyone stay back, there's no telling what this might do."

At Tamakis prompting, the Ouran students climbed to the far side of the junk pile, each staking out their hiding places. Kon shifted to a different portion of the roof, just in case.

Rukia sighed, relaxed as much as she dared and rose her hand, pouring just enough reiatsu into the circle to activate it. Chalk lines began to glow a faint blue.

"The fallen dragon twice scorned by black rose

hidden fire by winding vines

each one touches naught

six daggers of seven hands in time with the rising sun

two eagles cry out

golden bow split in twain by silver song and shattered sky

the red crow flies east

eight horses fall

no sound has followed the creek to its end

the rain brings sunlight

rabbits bring down the moon…"

The outermost circle began to shift to red.

When it came down to it the fight was good practice for coordinated attacks. Ichigo had known that shinigami oftentimes worked in teams but he'd never done it himself; either he took out the hollow, or Rukia did. Of course, part of that was because most of the hollows that appeared on a day to day basis were no real threat to either of them.

He blinked a couple of times as he realized that; back in the spring, he couldn't have said that. Had it really only been five months since he'd become a shinigami? His current train of thought was interrupted as he spotted an opening and darted in, flash stepping across the hollows flank, driving Zangetsu between its ribs. Blood sprayed out behind him almost in slow motion as the Hollow let out a strangled roar. This distraction have Renji an opening, allowing him to score a punishing blow to the hollows throat, nearly ripping it out, which in turn revealed another opening; which Ichigo gladly pounced on, slicing through the hollows opposite flank.

Yumi and Ikkaku swept in then, giving Ichigo and Renji a few moments to regroup before launching another feint or attack. They stood about three meters apart from another in mid air, watching the other shinigami for a short time, carefully waiting for their next opportunity to move.

"So just do it already." Yumi quipped, slashing his zanpakutou across the hollows shoulder. Ichigo scowled darkly as the wound healed quickly. Even the normally near-fatal wounds he and Renji had inflicted hadn't slowed it by much.

"NO!" Ikkaku snapped. "I can do it without it."

"Oh come on, you know you want to. I can see it in your eyes." Yumi laughed.

"Nah huh."

"Renji and Ichigo did it."

"Shaddup!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" Ichigo asked, pointing at Yumi.

Renji quirked a lopsided grin. "Nuthin'. Oh! Here we go!"

Ichigo jolted after him, casting Yumi and Ikkakus cryptic conversation aside as he brought Zangetsu up. If he was reading this right, and he was fairly certain he was; Yumi was gonna make a feint on the left, Ikkaku was going to drive in from behind, Renji was setting himself up to back up Ikkaku, and it looked like Ichigo was left to attempt the mask again.

Renji slid to a stop, eyes bugging out of his head. Ichigo yelped as the red-head grabbed him by the back of his gi and yanked him back. "Hold on a second."

Ichigo gave him a dumbfounded look, then he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He caught a glimpse of Yumi scrambling away from the hollow, hands over his ears, eyes squeezed shut.

It was the loudest crack of thunder he'd ever heard and the accompanying flash of lightning was beyond blinding. Ichigo yelped again and shook his head, covering his ears too late for the thunder but just in time for the screams of the hollow; winced as static crawled across his spikes, crackled between the folds of his clothes. "What the hell was that!?"

"Kamo!" Renji laughed, blinking rapidly, trying to focus. "Her zanpakutou's a duel elemental; air and water. She just hit the hollow with some lightning."

"Oh." Ichigo squinted at Renji then attempted to see what the hollow was doing. It was down! Everyone seemed to realize this at once. A split second later, four shinigami were racing in for the kill, a split second after that, four shinigami were flung back.

"Fuck!" Renji spat, rolling to his feet and glaring at the, apparently, temporarily stunned hollow. It was sizzling slightly, smoke curled from its still twitching flesh, but the mask was intact. It would recover in a few minutes most likely.

Ichigo growled his agreement and sat up, rubbing his head. A fifth shinigami stood off to the side, hands planted on her hips, inspecting the hollow. She hadn't joined in the group attack, apparently. Ichigo wondered if his vision was still off 'cause he could swear she had a tail – not a big tail, but a short one, kinda like a rabbit, or a chipmunk or something. Her hair color was odd too but that wasn't a major issue in the Gotei 13, apparently hair dye was readily available. He'd seen people with blueish, greenish hair before anyway.

"Now, that was weird." She commented.

"Damnit Kamo! Why didn't you warn me!" Ikkaku yelped, climbing shakily to his feet and pointing his zanpakutou at the newcomer. Smoke was curling up out of his clothes.

When she half turned to look at him, Ichigo was sure his vision was screwed up, because she looked like she was a duck. But… they were calling her "Kamo" which meant wild duck…

"Oh right, sorry man!" She laughed and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Forgot you can't feel the static build up without any hair on yer head."

"Is that a bald joke?" Ikkaku twitched.

"More or less."

Ikkaku glared, the duck-girl smirked.

"Now, now children," Yumi chided good naturally, smoothing his hair down. "No need to get into this now. We all know bald is beautiful!"

"Damn straight!"

"Heh, whatever." She chuckled then jerked a thumb at the hollow. "So what's up with ugly here? You guys shoulda been able to handle 'em. Hell, that shoulda split him in two."

"We're working on it." Renji grunted, sauntering over, "It's feeding off of some weird reiatsu, Rukia's trying to get it contained. Presumably once it looses access to the reiatsu we can kill it."

"Makes sense. So, we're basically just keeping it busy."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Goodie." She shifted her gaze to Ichigo, who was gaping openly at her. "Catching flies?"

Ichigo closed his mouth, shook his head and dared to move a little closer. "You're… you're a… a duck!?"

"No way!" She grabbed her beak in "shock". "I never would have noticed if you hadn't pointed it out just now!"

"I… ah… er… sorry…"

"It's fine." She laughed and waved him over. "Suzuki Akane."

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Ichi…" Akane blinked her large, amethyst eyes – it was her turn to gape. "You're the punk kid who kicked Cap'ns ass!?"

"Uh… it was more of a draw…"

She whistled and stepped up to him, giving him a thorough inspection. "Huh. Somehow I thought you'd be taller."

Ichigo blinked, furrowed his brow and shifted back a half step. "I'm taller than you!"

"Yeah but, Kenpachi's freaking' huge!" She shook her head. "Well, nice to meet ya, anyway."

"Uh, yeah…" Ichigo was having a hard time believing he was talking to a duck. Granted, she was basically human in appearance if you ignored the feathers, the odd hair – was that even hair? – color, and the bright orange beak growing out of her face. Now that he thought about it, that made it all the more bizarre.

"Think I should zap this guy again or do you boys wanna try slicing him up some more?" Akane asked, inclining her head towards the hollow, which was starting to stir.

"I wanna fight 'em some more." Ikkaku grunted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Yumi shrugged. "I don't care either way really. This fight has gotten boring."

Meanwhile…

"Fifty men strike north

Jealous hawk steals dawns glory

Mountains crumble

Hills rise

Hells gates close on the reign of sand…"

Rukia narrowed her eyes, not daring to wipe the sweat from her brow and possibly break her concentration. This was the longest incantation she had ever dared attempt and, thus far, it seemed to be working. Each portion of the circle was glowing, shifting colors as the various spells were slowly activated and shifted into place. It was kind of like a lock; she'd already cut off the flow near its source, and had trapped more of it in various binding spells along the way, but there was still a lot of reiatsu being pulled out of the now limited well. She'd be content to let it be but there was no telling how long it would take to drain. Best to deal with it quickly.

She was nearing the end of the incantation. It was both a relief and a worry; she was sure the trap would hold, but she wasn't sure for how long. And, she knew, the best way to seal it would be to return it to the source. Luckily, she'd laid the foundations of that spell down first thing.

The trick was timing it just right.

A/N: Hooray for nonsensical Kidou incantations!