Chapter Ten: Ride or Die

"I'm not a nice person, am I Shaolin?"

Soi raised an eyebrow in Ichigo's direction, crossing her legs as she lounged in her chair near the fireplace. After the Council of Elders had finished their meal, they had retired to the den that was in the condo above the restaurant. There, they continued to discuss the issues that needed to be discussed, as well as topics that probably had no business being discussed during a meeting as serious as this one was supposed to be. She and Ichigo were sitting next to each other, and he had leaned over and had whispered this into her ear.

She smoothed her facial features and asked, "And how, may I ask, are you a bad person? I mean, you are quite rough around the edges, but you're better than some."

He smirked and said, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Shaolin. What I meant was, should I have been gentler in broaching the news to the Hirawatari siblings concerning their nephew."

She smiled at him and rested her hand on his, "I wouldn't worry about it, Ichigo. They're just shocked, is all. I mean, wouldn't you be after not only learning that your sister you haven't seen in twenty years had a kid, but that that kid had become one of your fellow Vaizard warriors? I'm surprised they took the news so well, considering."

Ichigo nodded and looked around the room. The Hirawatari siblings sat next to each other, both of them staring at their respective wine glasses, occasionally taking a sip before going back to staring in silence. To tell the truth, Ichigo would have admitted that he was kind of crept out by their behavior. But he mentally agreed with Shaolin, they really did have a good reason to be acting as strange as they were.

Akito and Kiyone sat next to each other. Kiyone was blushing as red as a beat, the most likely cause was none other than Akito. Akito was smirking as she asked a whole bushel load of questions, mostly inappropriate, about Ukitake. Even a fool, or Ichigo, could tell that Kiyone had a major crush on the Thirteenth company Captain. Ichigo found it amusing. Shaolin, unfortunately, found it hilarious. Ichigo sometimes caught himself wondering if there was some kind of drug to control Shaolin's spontaneous bursts of laughter.

Finally, the geezers Fuji and Antonio, at least that's what Ichigo called them in private, sat comfortably facing the fireplace, laughing and drinking. Antonio's belly laugh boomed throughout the room as Fuji recalled a humorous situation from his glory days. Evidently, both he and Yamamoto had joined the Thirteen Court Guard Companies at the same time, and had been involved in several wars together, before the eventual split between the Vaizard and normal Shinigami.

He turned his attention back to the female sitting next to him, formulating his thoughts for a second, before whispering into her ear, "Any word on the progress of my sisters concerning their inner hollows?"

She turned her head towards his, so that her face was practically nuzzled against his neck, before replying to his question, "I just received the report from Shinji today. It appears that they both are in perfect health, if a little shaken up after the ordeal that they just went through. They should have no more problems with their hollows for another six to eight years, depending on how their souls mature." She turned her head and looked at him right in the eyes, "I'm assuming at that time you are going to want to go ahead and do the dominance ritual?"

He leaned his head closer to her ear and whispered, "Of course, dear Shaolin. Did the Arrancar manage to abduct Inoue-san?"

She nodded her head, "Yeah, and the Arrancar even managed to trick Soul Society into believing that she betrayed them and went of her own violation. Ichigo, are you okay with this?"

Before he could reply, they both noticed something was definitely wrong. They slowly turned their heads towards the others in the room, only to notice that the others were staring at them, smirking at them. Akito's smirk was absolutely vicious as she snapped her fingers. Ichigo and Shaolin only had the opportunity to make an 'eek!' kind of noise before the chairs they were sitting in both were transported to the other side of the room.

Needless to say, the sudden loss of chair beneath their bodies caused both of them to fall, on top of each other. Shaolin's fall was not as painful as Ichigo's, as he managed to break her fall. This of course caused the position they ended up in to be quite the compromising one. As they recovered from the shock of the sudden fall, both of them noticed how close they were to each other's face. Ichigo, being one not to let a good opportunity to slip past him, captured Shaolin's lips with his own.

Now, the last two times he had done this, Shaolin had somehow decided that throwing punches, kicks, and Suzemebachi at Ichigo's smirking face was a smart thing to do, regardless of who or what might be in the way. But instead of a little war in a confined space, Shaolin responded in kind to the kiss. Ichigo really didn't mind, he just assumed that the third time's the charm, as the saying goes.

After they had finished, and were retrieving their chairs and sitting back down, they acknowledged the presence of the other six Elders. Akito, Kiyone, and Hanajima were all blushing at what had happened, but were smiling at the two nonetheless. Shoji and Antonio both were red in the face, not because of a blush, but because they were both laughing way too hard for their continued health. Fuji did a very Fuji thing, he gave Ichigo a thumbs up sign.

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Feeling a reiatsu signature approach, Ise Nanao walked over to the door of the office she shared with her Captain, wondering who could have come over here at this hour. As she opened the door, she smiled at Jyuushirou Ukitake. He must be in good health today, she thought, if he managed to make it to her Captain's office at this late hour.

He smiled at her as she greeted him at the door, "Hello Ise-san, how are you doing today?"

She bowed her head to him before replying, "I am doing quite well today, Captain Ukitake."

Shunsui didn't really feel like being left out of the conversation, so he decided to interrupt, "Jyuushirou, so good to see you, my old friend. Have you come to save me and my beautiful Nanao-chan from the evil overlord paperwork? Sake?"

Ukitake shook his head, "No thank you, Shunsui. And no, I am not here to save you from the evildoer known as paperwork. In fact I was looking for your Vice-Captain."

Nanao raised an eyebrow, "How might I be of service, Ukitake-Taichou?"

Ukitake replied, "Have you seen my female third seat, Kiyone Kotetsu? I have found that she has somehow disappeared for the day, and I was wondering if she had showed up to the Shinigami Women's Association meeting today."

Nanao's expression grew worried, "Actually, sir, I was about to send an inquiry to your office about her whereabouts. She never showed herself, neither at the meeting, nor for her weekly visit with her sister, this last part according to Isane when I talked to her earlier."

Shunsui immediately sobered up, "This is indeed a serious matter, Jyuushirou, what do you think we should do? Should we bring the matter up before Yamamoto?"

Ukitake frowned, before nodding, "That seems like to be the best choice at the moment. Let's go then."

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As the Elders were continuing to discuss important Vaizard things that needed to be discussed, (like the mental state of the average teenage girl, now that Don Kanonji had hit the big time), a foreign reiatsu hit them. They all turned their attention to the doorway, where a Shinigami of Seiretei entered.

The Shinigami was the Third seat of the Fifth Division, a lanky youth with spiky yellow hair. His eyes widened at the sight before him, but before the Elders could react, he hit a button on the silver wristband he wore, causing another three Shinigami to be summoned in the room. The Third seat of the First, the Fourth seat of the Tenth, and the Vice-Captain of the First. The Vice Captain rushed at Ichigo, stabbing him in the heart.

As he turned to the other Elders, he said, "This is an illegal gathering, all you will put up no resistance, and you will all come with me to be judged by Seiretei for your crimes."

An insane laugh was heard behind him, and he turned around in shock as Ichigo laughed. Ichigo, using no means of support at all, stood up on his own two feet. He brushed a hand over the wound, and with a small hiss the hole in his body and his tux suddenly disappeared.

Ichigo sneered as he approached the Vice-Captain. "Do you really think that we would be afraid of you, Shinigami? We are the Vaizard Elders, we have absolutely nothing to fear form the likes of you." His eyes turned the color of his hollow's, and his tongue turned blue as well. "I do hope you will forgive me for this, but I am afraid that I must learn of how you managed to learn of us."

Ichigo then forced the Vice-Captain's mouth open. He then shot his tongue, now the three yards in length, through the man's throat and into his brain. After only three seconds Ichigo got all the information that he needed, so he used his tongue to kill him off. He then repeated this process with the other three, before using Kidou to dispose of their bodies. His eyes grew back to normal, and he then walked back to his chair.

He turned back to the other Elders and said, "Now then, where were we? Ah yes, I believe we were discussing the importance of Television and its impact on the youths of today."

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TBC

Omake-Commercials

Ichigo walked up to the counter and picked up the bottle of Germ-X. He then turned to the camera and said, "I endorse this product. Not only because of its effectiveness, but because nothing quite says 'I love you babe' like a chest covered in Germ-X."