DISCLAIMER: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite, Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Bisco Hatori. I like pie. My apologies to H.P. Lovecraft. ;)

Chapter 9: Typhoon Blues

The hollows reiatsu fluctuated suddenly, violently. Ichigo and Renji sat up from where they'd been sprawled in the grass, listening to the battle and watching clouds drift past overhead. Yumi started and half turned. Ikkaku and Akane (who had decided to experiment with the hollow whenever Ikkaku paused for a breather) exchanged glances.

Was this it? The reiatsu fluctuated again, not as violently this time but the hollow seemed to add a bit of urgency to its attacks. "It's loosing it's invincibility…" Ichigo murmured.

They were on their feet as the reiatsu fluctuated a third time. The shinigami gathered for a quick huddle as the hollow dropped to all fours and shook its head, scratched at the hole in its chest and let out a worried sounding whine.

"Hit it with everything we've got?" Renji asked.

"Aa." Ikkaku grunted.

"Sounds good to me." Ichigo agreed.

"Me too." Yumi chimed.

"Yeah." Akane nodded.

The hollow lunged towards them, jaws spread wide, an almost desperate cry escaping its fearsome maw. It's roar was overwhelmed a moment later as the combined blast of Ichigos Getsuga Tenshou and Akanes Lightning in a Bottle ripped deep gashes through one brawny shoulder. Either attack was lethal but the hollow managed to throw itself to the side at the last second. This however, put it in perfect ambush position for Renji, Yumi and Ikkaku.

Ichigo had never heard a hollow scream like that. He threw a glance at Akane, saw her twirl her blade in anticipation. He grinned and hefted Zangetsu, was about to move into shun-po then froze.

"Rukia!" He did ultimately flash step, just not towards the hollow.

Akane was surprised to find herself alone, poised in perfect attack position above the hollow. Ichigo should have been about four or five meters to her left. Shrugging, she brought her blade down. Blood splattered in a satisfying manor as Aozora sliced neatly through the side of the hollows neck, right where it met up with it shoulder, adding to the long, charred gashes they'd inflicted moments ago. Had this been a normal creature, she would have taken out a chunk of its collarbone. She was pleased to see that the wounds were not healing. "Now we're getting somewhere!"

The hollow whipped around and snapped at her but she was already out of reach. Sliding to a halt, she reoriented herself, almost absently took note of Yumi and Ikkakus location then started towards a new position to start another run.

"Where'd Ichigo go!?" Renji shouted as she darted past.

"Said something about Rukia!"

"Oh…" He threw a glance towards the far side of the school and furrowed his brow, an odd mix of concern and something Akane couldn't quite put her finger on gracing his features.

Akane took note of the reiatsu that was being funneled away from the hollow and wondered what in blazes the pint sized shinigami had done.

"Nine feathers let loose on the wind

four return stained in blood

Bakudou # 85 Serpent Seal!"

Rukia changed her hand sign, felt the pressure build beneath her as the reiatsu swirled literally beneath her feet. Talk about cutting it close! She knelt, placed both hands on the glowing circle of chalk. "Bakudou # 53; Silent Vessel, stage one!"

Somewhere beneath the school, her first spell clicked into it's initial stage. Praying silently to any gods that might be listening, she changed hand signs again then placed her hands back on the circle. "Bakudou # 62 – Release!"

Reiatsu sometimes behaved like a gas, this was one of the first things they learned. Applying pressure to it like would bring about this behavior. Right now, the reiatsu was packed in tight. She'd just opened up her second spell – it was thoroughly blocked everywhere but back from whence it came. It should be pulled into the vacuum created by the Silent Vessel spell, which effectively used the reiatsu leaking out of that second statue to fuel it, make it stronger and leave an empty space around it.

Sensing a downward pull on the reiatsu, she began unlocking the other seals, starting at the bottom and moving up. As she reached the last one, she swallowed hard, drew Sode no Shirayuki, drove the tip of the blade into the very center of the manji directly in front of her…

"Four feathers

North

South

East

West

The sun sets

The sun rises

All return to center!

Bakudou # 89: Colorless Vortex! Bakudou #57; Release!"

Rukia clung to Sode no Shirayuki for dear life as the last lock was opened. That by itself would have drained most of the reiatsu out of the immediate area but did nothing for that which was outside the trap. The Vortex would take care of the rest of it, drawing it away from the hollow and into the trap. The only problem was that it would likely suck a lot of other stuff into it too. Like her.

Gritting her teeth, she drove her blade further into the ground and braced herself against it. Wind swirled around her, a mix of reiatsu and other odds and ends – anything that was light enough to blow away. She was vaguely aware of the others scrambling for deeper cover. Ultimately, that Menos had done them a favor; if it wasn't for the debris pile they wouldn't have had anywhere to hide. Then again, if the hollow hadn't taken out a part of the school, they would have been able to escape long ago.

Sode no Shirayuki slid foreword a handful of centimeters. Swearing, she dug her heels into the floor. She started to slide foreword, towards the center of the circle which was, at the moment, a dark whirlpool of ultra-condensed reiatsu. Not good, not good not good! Damn that hollow! If I hadn't already been tired from fighting that stupid thing I would have had enough strength to set the trap and get out of range…

She slid foreword again. Aged wood screeched as the blade began to warp so close to the vortex. Shit! Rukia squeezed her eyes shut as her zanpakutou snapped free, as she lost her footing…

Suddenly, impossibly, there was a flare of surprisingly powerful reiatsu behind her, entirely different from the energy that was being pulled into the vortex but completely familiar. Strong arms wrapped around her waist, yanked her back with a funny sort of rough tenderness. She was very relieved to find herself sitting against Ichigo two meters away from the circle, out of the danger zone. She could feel his reiatsu being sucked into the vortex but it would be a while before it became dangerous for him, and she'd snap the trap shut long before that. She started to count backwards from fifty.

"Three… two… one… " She gathered up the last of her strength, pulled herself to her feet (Ichigo held her steady), pointed Sode no Shirayuki at the vortex to better focus her power.

"The spiral brings forth the maze

the serpent coils through the vines

all bells toll at midnight

and the four feathers come to rest!

Bakudou #58: Silent Vessel – stage two!"

There was a final burst of wind then everything grew impossibly still. Rukia felt her knees buckle, fell greatly back into Ichigos arms.

Back at the ruined hedge maze, the hollow let out a sudden, startled cry then lunged away from the quartet of shinigami. Although injured, it had strength enough to run.

But it didn't get far.

Tamaki cracked and eye open as everything came to a stand still. For a few moments, he scarcely dared to breathe. He took note of the absolute silence and realized that the dark, twisted thing that had been causing an odd sort of buzzing in his head was gone. He could feel the immense pressure hidden below him, however.

Sensing that it was safe for the time being, he slowly opened his other eye. Mori stared stoically back at him from where he sat with his knees drawn up to his chest under a desk. Hunny hugged his bunny tightly and blinked his brown eyes open. Shifting his gaze to the side, The Host Club King quickly took a head count; spotted Karou and Hikaru tangled up in a pile of desks and chairs, Renge and Kon were hunkered down behind the remains of one of the other sinks; Haruhi was huddled next to the Black Magic Club, Kyoya a short ways behind her. He didn't see Nekozawa; it was as worrisome as it was a relieving. Carefully, he turned around and poked his head above the little fort made of a pair of desks and some ceiling tiles that he'd been hiding under.

Bereznoff was lying in the center of the circle. Tamaki felt his eyes start to tear up. A small gasp made its way around the room as the others took a look at the damage. But, before they could say anything, jump to any conclusions, a shadow skittered across the room, scooped up the cat puppet, then retreated to a far corner. It revealed itself to be Nekozawa. He clutched Bereznoff to his chest. The cat puppet looked quite disturbed.

Somewhat relieved (yet horrified), Tamaki shifted his gaze to the shinigami, felt a small smile tug at his lips. Ichigo was propped against the sink station directly across from the circle, Rukia sat between his legs, leaning on his chest. Rukia closed her eyes, heaved a sigh and let her head roll back to lie against his shoulder. Ichigo relaxed his grip on her and rested his chin on the top of her head. Tamaki felt a pang of guilt at interrupting their game earlier. Wow, was that really today?

"Awwwwww!"

Tamaki glanced up, surprised to see three new shinigami crouched overhead, grinning mischievously. One of them appeared to be a duck. He looked back just in time to see Ichigo raise a hand and casually give the newcomers the finger without looking up or even opening his eyes.

Tamaki wasn't really paying attention to that though, a pair of glowing, sliding doors had materialized as Ichigo had raised his hand. A shinigami followed a black butterfly out of the portal. The doors slid shut behind him and disappeared. He was much older in appearance, had long white hair and wore a white haori over his black gi.

"Ah, well put Kurosaki-kun!"

Rukia jolted, snapped her eyes open then scrambled to her feet. "Captain Ukitake!" She bowed, nearly falling over. Ichigo – who had stood as well and was blushing a bit – caught her.

"Think you over did it a little?"

She shot him a sharp look as he steadied her.

"Actually, I think he's right." Captain Ukitake knelt to inspect the circle. "This is some incredibly high level Kidou here, Rukia-san! No wonder you can barely stand! I'm amazed you were able to do it at all!"

"Oh… ah, thank you sir." Rukia stammered lightly elbowing Ichigo in the ribs and taking a wobbly step away from him. "I'm afraid it's only temporary though."

The white haired shinigami nodded, then spotted the funny wooden statue. He picked it up. "Well, well! Cthulhu, we meet again!"

"What?" Rukia blinked. "You know what that is?"

"Mmm. Pesky creature, Cthulhu. No matter how many of these things we collect and destroy, more always seem to pop up." He flipped it over then half turned to look at Nekozawa, who was still comforting Bereznoff. "You wouldn't happen to be of the Nekozawa clan would you?"

The brooding (yet cooing) shadow jolted. "Ah, yes! Nekozawa Umehito."

"Such a troublesome family." Captain Ukitake sighed. "I suspect you have more of these lying around, as well as a copy of the Necronomicon?"

"Er, yes…"

"I'm afraid I am going to have to confiscate those. Can't have you pulling a stunt like this again."

"I don't think I'll try it again." Nekozawa laughed nervously as Bereznoff shook his head vigorously.

Ukitake nodded then glanced up, the Shinigami lurking overhead came to attention. "Kamo-san! Would you please accompany Nekozawa-sama to his home and collect the items in question."

"Sir!" She jumped down, landed lightly in a crouch next to Nekozawa, drywall creaking beneath her red Converse All Stars.

"You're a duck!" Nekozawa gaped at her, Bereznoff looked downright flabbergasted.

"Thank you captain obvious!" Akane rolled her eyes.

"Milord, what's going on?" The twins hissed.

Tamaki glanced to the side, saw that everyone was watching, well, not watching per-se, but they knew something was going on over there. "Oh! Ah, it seems Rukia-san has successfully contained the reiatsu…"

"You can see us?"

Tamaki met the kindly, curious eyes of the captain. "Uh… yeah."

"This is Souh Tamaki, Captain. I made sure Renji included him in his report."

"Oh yes!" He smiled. "You seem to have a knack for finding those with high spiritual powers, Rukia-san! How much of the situation are the others aware of?" He gestured to the curious, clueless faces of the Ouran students.

"A surprising amount." Ichigo grunted.

"Hmm. That will make clean up a little more difficult. Oh well." He waved the other shinigami down.

"You're not gonna erase their memories are you?" Ichigo stepped foreword.

Tamaki felt his eyes widen. They can erase memories!?

"I'm afraid we must. They cannot know what happened here."

"I hate to admit it but they actually helped out a lot." Ichigo argued. "Hell, you guys'd probably be dealing with a major disaster if Souh hadn't blundered into things."

"I did not blunder into things!" Tamaki scoffed. "As a Host it was my duty to invite a most honored guest to afternoon tea."

Ukitake blinked. "Host?"

Tamaki snapped his fingers dramatically. The Host Club slid behind him (minus Kon, who was wisely keeping out of sight). "We are the Ouran High School Host Club and it is our duty to bring happiness to the girls of this school!"

Akane snorted a laugh. It was the first and only time that Renji, Yumi and Ikkaku had ever heard her quack.

"Holy shit, they let you have a Host Club in high school?!" She giggled.

"Of course!" Tamaki beamed.

"Oooo! I like this place!" Yumi sparkled. "Is that your normal uniform or just cosplay? Oh my I'm going to have to visit here again! So many beautiful people!"

Tamaki grinned but made a mental note not to leave the flamboyant shinigami and Renge alone unsupervised.

"Why are they dressed as shinigami?" Ukitake gestured to Renge and Haruhi.

"Renge." Ichigo and Rukia said in unison. They exchanged amused glances.

"Renge-kun is a master of costumes. She felt it appropriate to honor our guests." Tamaki explained, gesturing to the brown haired girl.

"Are they talking about me?"

"He was commenting on your costumes."

"Oh!"

"But she can't see us?" Ukitake threw a curious glance at Ichigo and Rukia.

"Nope." Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest.

"How strange!" Ukitake cupped his chin in his hand then shrugged. "I'll discuss it with the clean up crew, I don't suppose anyone would believe them anyway, if they decided to say anything."

The captain clapped his hands together and moved around to the controlling triangle that Rukia had used. "Well! We'd better get started. Kamo-san, you'd best be off."

"Sir!" Akane saluted and grabbed Nekozawa by the cloak. "Now, where do you live?" They flickered and disappeared.

"Kurosaki-kun, would you please help Vice Captain Abari, Madarame-sama and Ayasegawa-sama evacuate the humans. Then take Rukia-san to get some food, I believe she's going to collapse any moment now. You do have a gigai here, Rukia-san? Oh good."

"Ah, sure." Ichigo gave the white haired shinigami an odd look then started making his way towards the Ouran students.

Tamaki blinked a couple of times, looked at Ichigo and Rukia, then shot the captain a funny look. The white haired shinigami winked at him. Tamaki quirked a grin. Somehow, he knew, he didn't need to worry about loosing his memory.

A/N: Almost done! O: