Chapter Fourteen: The Final Countdown, Part Two: The Rhapsody

When Isane awoke in her chambers, she noticed that several things were different from the norm. The one that first grabbed her attention was that it was extremely cold. As she wondered what might be the cause, she heard the sound of wind howling. Ah, that must be it. She must have accidentally left the window open.

She then noticed something else; she had an extremely painful migraine at the moment. And as curious as she was to figuring out her predicament, she didn't want to bring herself any more pain by opening her eyes. As she tried to shut her eyes tighter, she noticed that the 'pillow' she was currently resting on was exhibiting strange behavior. It kept on rising and falling.

There it went again. Why in the world couldn't her pillow just keep still while she was resting on it? It wasn't acting like a pillow at all. It wasn't very soft, for one thing, although it was comfortable. And it seemed to give off its own heat, not that she was complaining, mind you, she kind of liked it. The strangest thing was steady rise and fall, accompanied by an intake and exhale of breath. Now, normally she would have figured what her pillow really was a lot quicker, but she had the worst hangover she had ever personally experienced, and it even hurt to think.

Her body gave a miniscule jolt as the medical training part of her brain kicked in and gave her the answer. She slowly opened her eyes, and as they adjusted to the light, her suspicions were confirmed. Her 'pillow' was a masculine and well defined chest. She looked down at her left arm, and noticed it was draped across the man's stomach. She also noted that the man she was snuggled against had his arm wrapped around her, hugging her to him.

Being careful not to wake the man she was cuddled with, she slowly lifted her in an attempt to see his face. She gave a little squeak of surprise when she saw it. It was none other than the face of the man she fancied, Hanatarou Yamada. How in the world had this happened? She remembered that she had seen her sister head out for training, and then Isane couldn't remember clearly what had happened after that. Well, she did remember a few drunken moments, now that her headache was starting to clear. She remembered that they had both been in her room, drinking and laughing. She blushed as she recalled the 'exercise' they had participated in. She knew she hadn't dreamed this, mostly because of the state of dress, or undress, that they were both in.

She felt Hanatarou begin to stir, so she tightened her grip on him so he wouldn't be able to run away. He opened his, blinked a few times, then looked at her and smiled. She smiled back and rested her head on his chest once more and closed her eyes. It was their day off after all, so there was no problem with sleeping a couple of extra hours.

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As both Ishida and Renji stared in shock at the reappearance of the Eighth Espada, neither of them noticed the presence that came from behind them. Before anyone could do anything, the orange haired Shinigami from earlier shun-po'd behind Renji and knocked him out. He then caught Renji as he fell, before slowly lowering him to the ground. He then flickered in and out of sight, suddenly having Chad slung over his shoulder. He laid Chad down next to Renji, before straightening and turning to face the Eighth Espada and the Quincy.

Ishida let out a gasp when the Shinigami did so, for his face mask somehow been ripped away, allowing the Quincy to see his face. And that face was none other than Ichigo Kurosaki, the one person in Uryu's class who could see ghosts who he thought didn't know about the Shinigami. Yet here the Strawberry stood, clad in the uniform of the second division. Ichigo nodded in his direction, before smirking. Uryu silently fumed. Even though Ichigo now seemed to be a mature Shinigami, he still had the ability to piss Uryu off just by showing that dumb smirk of his.

"Hey there Ishida, how ya been lately?" said Ichigo in the most arrogant and annoying voice possible. "Well, anyway, it seems that Keigo managed to rescue Inoue, and Mizuiru has just reported in saying that he has Rukia. So how about we blow this joint?"

Ichigo reached towards his face and pulled his hollow mask out of thin air. He then drew a pentagram in the air, before placing his arms in the center of the design. Power coursed through him and a source less torrential wind tried to knock him off his feet. After a few seconds, he, Uryu, Chad, and Renji were enveloped in a dark purple hued light, before disappearing from the room.

Elsewhere, both of the groups that were with Mizuiru and Keigo also disappeared in a similar colored light.

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When they arrived back on Earth, Urahara was waiting for them. He had his three assistants carry those that were unconscious back to his Shoten. As they were being taken back, Kisuke turned to the others, trying to discern for himself the exact extent of what had transpired. Most of them looked like hell, except for the one in the second division garb. And when Urahara tried to get a look at his face, he nearly fell down in shock at the sight of the hollow mask that was on the young one's face.

Just then, Isshin suddenly flashed stepped into their presence. The Vaizard took one look at him before shun-poing the heck out of there. Isshin responded to impulse and took off after him.

They went all over Karakura. They went through buildings and parks, across rivers and empty lots. Every time Isshin thought he had caught up to the man, the masked Shinigami would increase the pace even more or simply outmaneuver him. It went like this for almost ten minutes before the Vaizard suddenly went faster than Isshin thought physically possible and gave him the slip.

As Isshin was about to head back to Urahara Shoten, he noticed that he was in the cemetery where his wife's memorial stone was kept. In fact, Isshin was standing right in front of it. Isshin frowned in thought, when he spotted the fresh offerings. In fact, they were so fresh it looked like they had just been placed there.

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TBC

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