Chapter 6

A/N: Okay people I would like some more reviews if you don't mind. I would like to know if anyone thinks this story is good. A little love never hurt anyone.

"Dance." she whispered. Her Zanpaktou released, turning into a brilliant white katana with a meter long ribbon and emitting a white glow like the sun rising from the horizon. The man looked at her with narrow eyes as he scoffed before saying, "Alright, maybe you can do a little more than I thought."

"A little more?" she whispered. With blinding speed she appeared before him holding her Zanpaktou up to his neck, the blade rubbing very lightly against his skin, "I want you to leave."

"Oh on the contrary, I think I'll take my stay." he said snapping his fingers. The Demi Hollows heard the sudden noise and arched forward ready to attack. Rukia looked back towards the estranged man and stood confused as he disappeared. She backed herself up to Ichigo who for the sake of this fan fiction wielded his own Zanpaktou before him. They were surrounded.

"We have to fight through them. We have to find the weakest one and go from there." said Ichigo.

"You idiot, they are all equal in strength." Rukia couldn't help but retort. Suddenly, one of the Hollow erupted from the crowd and went to strike down on the pair but Ichigo lifted his blade in time to hold off the blow. He knew this one Hollow had immense strength. Just trying to keep the Hollow from making contact was causing his arms to tire and at a rapid pace. Rukia found an opening as she hopped onto his shoulders and propelled herself over the Demi and landing on its back. She took her katana and lifted it over her head to strike but her body was hit by an incredible kidou spell from a waiting Hollow that entered to fight. The spell struck her shoulder causing the clothing to instantly vaporize and her shoulder to be burned. She let out a yell but managed to stay on the beast.

"Why aren't they attacking us at once?" called Ichigo. Rukia was in too much pain to comply but the question made her wonder nonetheless. Why weren't they attacking them all at once? She took another attempt to strike the Demi but at her weapon came close to the skin but some sort of energy negated the impact. She tried again and again but her weapon would suddenly stop only inches from the Demi's skin. A bright light behind her flashed and when she turned to look over her shoulder the sight of several random kidou spells spelled disaster in her eyes. The blasts hit directly throwing her body onto the ground and flinging her Zanpaktou off into the distance. Ichigo heard her fall and with a sudden burst of energy he toppled the beast onto its side. He turned to her and to his horror she was covered with scrapes and cuts that nearly covered her whole body. He watched as she struggled to get up but he knew she was on the verge of losing consciousness. He took her in his arms and held her close to his chest hoping it would be enough to sustain her. He held his sword in a protective stance trying to intimidate his enemy but to no avail. The Demi's came closer, their shadows shielding the sunlight. He was running out of time and options. One of the Hollows lifted its claw above the pair and struck down.

"BAN-KAI!!"

A sudden blast of black electricity erupted cascading through the Hollow crowds. Many of them fell onto their backs and disintegrated but many others took their place. When the smoke cleared Ichigo stood holding Rukia over his shoulder and his now dense black Zanpaktou in his hand. The Demi's looked on curiously but cautiously.

"Hold on, Rukia. I'll get you home." Ichigo whispered. He held his blade above his head and with a mighty blow slashed downward causing black energy to erupt from his weapon and through the massive crowd. He managed to clear a pathway and with that he darted through hoping he was fast enough to rush through. Suddenly, he heard a battle cry from one of the Demi's and he felt the heat of a kidou spell erupt behind him. He darted upward onto the side of a building and then to another losing the spell but in effect it hit a power line above causing electricity to break lose. Looking behind him the air rippled like heat waves and suddenly the Hollows disappeared.

Orihime stared in disbelief as the Hollows disappeared. She stood quietly, her arms crossed and her eyes narrow. She was furious. How did this attempt fail? The man returned and he walked over to her to place his arm around her shoulder she swiped it away.

"Don't touch me." she said with a hiss.

"What's up your ass?" he said sarcastically. Inoue couldn't help but blush from the comment as she quickly turned and said, "You said they wouldn't hurt them. What's more nothing got accomplished!"

"Chill the fuck out, woman. I have much more plans up my sleeve, you just need to relax and bide your time."

Ichigo quickly rushed into his home holding Rukia on his back. He could feel her heartbeat against his back and it was faint. He could feel her breathing which was shallow and came in long intervals. He needed to do something fast. He rushed upstairs to his bedroom and carefully placed her on his bed but as he laid her down she winced in pain.

"Rukia, try not to move. I will give Inoue a call. I think that might be our best bet." he said. He turned to leave but as he reached the doorway he heard a faint, "Ichi-go". He turned but she had already slipped into unconsciousness. He left the room and to the living room where he picked up the telephone and dialed Inoue's number. He waited intently and found himself slightly leaning on the balls of his feet in a childish way.

"Hello?" asked a voice on the phone.

"Inoue? Inoue! I need your help. Come over here, Rukia is hurt and I have no idea how to heal or anything. You're the only person I know who can heal her." he said sounding slightly frantic.

Orihime stood holding the phone up to ear, she was in a situation. She did not want to help him. She did not want to go over knowing she was there out of obligation and not because of satisfaction. She remembered the man telling her if the chance arrives to let her competition die. She couldn't find words.

"Hello? Inoue? Answer me, dammit!" shouted Ichigo. She couldn't do it.

"I'm sorry but I can't... I'm busy."

She hung up. Ichigo could only blink in awe. He quickly dialed her number again but all that came was a lone dial tone and her answering machine. He slammed the phone against the receiver. What the hell was he going to do? Rukia was lying upstairs wounded and he didn't know an ounce of healing techniques. He quickly took the phone again and dialed a number.

"Come on, Ishida. Pick up the phone you nerd." he said.

"Hello?"

"Ishida, I need your help and don't you goddamn dare say you are busy." said Ichigo.

"Oh of course I was busy building my weapon of mass destruction and you called. Get a grip Kurosaki. What do you want?"

"Do you know how to take care of someone. You know, if they're hurt?"

"I suppose so. It really depends on what's wrong the patient."

Ichigo ran up the stairs and nearly did a baseball slide into his door. Ishida could hear all the commotion and said, "Is there something wrong Kurosaki?"

"Nope, nothing. Alright." he said looking over Rukia. The shoulders and collar of her shirt had been burnt off and all was left was bare skin scratched and bloody. Ichigo felt his stomach churn as the sight caused his mind to panic. He had always been the one hurt and never once did he pay much attention to the actual injury itself but looking at it now he could see it was clearly not something he wanted to deal with.

"Alright, what do you do when someone has a bunch of scratches and rather big ones." he said into the phone.

"You have to clean them and bandage them to say the least. If they are any bigger than a minor scratch you would have to stitch it up using sterilized string and needle."

"What about bruising?" asked Ichigo.

"Can't really do anything about that. Ice for anything above the shoulders and for anything bigger than a golf ball. Bruising is internal bleeding without the breaking of the skin. Most of the small ones you would have to leave alone. Anything else for you, Doctor?" mocked Ishida.

"Shut the hell up. I'm trying to figure it out but how do I find out?" he asked feeling nervous.

"Well, I think it would be pretty obvious. If the person is wearing clothes you're going to have to remove them."

Ichigo froze.

"Kurosaki? Why are you asking me these things anyway? Is it for school?"

"That's exactly what it's for." he said trying not to sound too embarrassed. He looked down at Rukia who was slightly panting. She must have been in pain. As he leaned forward he noticed a long red line appear from under her shirt. Fighting his dignity he slowly lifted her shirt above her naval and there in plain sight was a deep gash. It stretched from her hip to her chest which Ichigo had no intention of investigating...

"Kurosaki, I don't know what you're up to but I have to go. Have fun with whatever you're doing." he said. Ichigo hung up the phone and tossed it over his shoulder.

"So much help you are." he hissed. He scurried into the bathroom and pulled out the first aid kit and rushed back into his room. He withdrew a spool medical thread and a needle and skillfully placed it through.

"This is gonna suck.." he said, "Rukia, I'm going to try and patch you up. I need you to not hit me when I do this."

He had no anesthetic and he knew what was going to happen. He focused at the edge of the gash and pinched the skin to place them together and slowly dug the needle into it. Rukia let out a gasp of pain as her fingers drove themselves into the sheets.

"Calm down, Rukia!" he said. Her movements were making him nervous and he didn't trust himself to continue until she calmed down. She ceased and he continued threading the gash closed. He finally finished when he reached right under her chest for which he was thankful for. He took gauze and wiped away the excess blood. It took him another thirty minutes to clean and patch up the other scrapes and cuts. Ichigo sat his back against the wall in relief. He had done it. He looked over to her and sighed. She no longer seemed tense and her breathing was regular. He could tell by her chest that rose and fell evenly that she was fine. Those new Hollow were by far no joke. He placed all of his strength to just clearing a path and if he had to fight one he would be in no situation to actually win.

"Ichigo?" whispered Rukia. Ichigo stood and pulled a chair to her. He was exhausted so as he sat he tilted his head back and said, "What's up?"

"You're an idiot." she said.

"What?"

"Just kidding.. just kidding. But... um... thank you." she said tiredly. Ichigo couldn't help but smile.

"Don't worry about it. I just did what you would've done for me." he answered. She nodded.

"You didn't sneak a peek did you?" she asked. Ichigo felt himself fall from his chair.

"Of course not!" he yelled. She chuckled lightly and cringed.

"Idiot, take it easy. Just relax." he said, "you hungry?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Bullshit. I'll be back." he said ignoring her complaints. In truth, he wanted to leave the room. He didn't know what came over him but seeing her covered with bandages made his emotions rock. Something about her injured body and her weakened voice suddenly hit him so hard that he felt tears hit his eyes. He wanted to protect her. He wanted her to be unscathed. He failed. She could have died, Ichigo. She could have died and yet you couldn't even save her from that? You saved her once how come you couldn't do it again? Are you that weak? You have to get stronger, Ichigo. Get it together.

He found himself wiping his eyes and trying to refrain from getting too carried away. He soon returned to the room with a bowl of soup and his eyes averted towards the ceiling.
"Ichigo, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me." she said forcing herself to sit up. Ichigo had enough as he took his Zanpaktou and held it against her neck. Rukia stared at him with confusion and sudden fear as she said, "What are you doing?"

"For once, Rukia, would you just shut the hell up? It's bad enough I have to hear you brush me off. Lay down and shut up." he said withdrawing his blade. She obeyed but not before cursing a vulgar word before doing so.

"Think you can move your hands without hurting yourself?" he asked.

"It's not that bad. I'm sore, not crippled." she said taking the bowl from him, "How did we manage to escape?" she asked.

"I cleared a way far enough that I could get away. Speaking of which something about them caught my attention?"

"And what would that be?" she asked taking a sip from the bowl.

"It has something to do with electricity. The first night we encountered them the town generator went off and when it came back on they disappeared. Today, one of them tried to hit me but it ended up hitting a power line and after that they disappeared. Something about it caused their appearance. That's all I can tell."

"I can't even hit them." she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I tried to drive my Zanpaktou into the damn thing but I don't know if it had a spiritual layer or something. I couldn't penetrate it." she said.

"A spiritual layer?" he asked.

"Yes, it's not common but there are some instances that a creature or quite possibly even a human can 'wear' their reiastu on the outside to act like some kind of force field."

"How do they acquire something like that?" he asked.

"Something like that can't be taught. It's a hereditary thing. Usually it's the creature's or humans or whatever that has a parent that was superiorly stronger and mated with someone else that was as equally strong and produced offspring that only gained the superior genes."

"Wait, aren't Hollow created by other Hollow?" Ichigo asked. Rukia nodded.

"You seem to forget that these aren't traditional Hollow we're dealing with. These are Demi's meaning they're part Hollow and part something else. I can only assume these type of Hollow mate. That would make sense since their numbers are quite vast."

"So, is that term 'spiritual layer' a real term or something?" he asked.

"No, no one as of now has a real term or anything for this phenomenon, we call it that sometimes to be technical but there is something else we call it back in Soul Society."

Ichigo looked at her quizzically.

"What is it?"

"The Gift of our Fathers."