A/N: Heya everyone!! Sorry if I was late. My dad changed my computer so I kinda have to wait and yeah...

Thanks to LET'S BLEACH IT, auburn-haired-sadist-XD, and none for reviewing!! It was again, very much appreciated!! XD

Enjoy!!

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Perfection

Chapter 5

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Ichigo ran off, following Rukia's trace of reiatsu. 'Damn it. She's good at running away, isn't she? A little too good.' he thought. He stopped when he realized that Rukia's reiatsu spiked up. He ran, using his senses as the direction. He ran left, right, right then left, or was it right? Whichever it was, he didn't care, he just wanted to get to Rukia at any cost. Getting the feeling that he might never reach her in his current speed, he started shunpo-ing and stopped when he saw the raven-haired shinigami in front of him. He quickly took notice of his surroundings and noticed that he was near a lake at the park near the border of Karakura Town.

Even though her back was turned at him, he could still hear her panting for breath. The wind blew her dark locks softly, making it sway in a very graceful movement.

"Oi! Rukia! Are you okay?" Ichigo asked, putting his right hand at her left shoulder and turned her to face him. His eyes widened in surprise. She was all bloody and there was a big gash on her stomach, accompanied by cuts and bruises all over her arms.

"W-What...are y-you...doing...here?" she said between gasps as she cling to her zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki. It was in its shikai state, but, unlike the usual, the pure whiteness had turned half crimson red. The crimson red liquid was dripping from the tip of the blade to the green grass below.

"What happened?" Ichigo yelled, grabbing her other shoulder with his free arm. "Who-What...did this to you?"

"Ara...ara...seems like someone is a little late..."

"Wha-" Ichigo turned. There stood the exact same hollow he pummeled two hours ago. But this time, it was smaller in size.

"Nice to see you again," it smirked, "I'm not so easy to get rid of, much to your dismay." Its smirk slowly changed into a maniacal grin.

"'The hell? Well then, I just have to cut, cut and CUT SOME MORE!" Ichigo yelled, swinging Zangetsu, trying to kill it. It dodged and was about to give the fatal blow while Ichigo blocked it with his kitchen knife-like zanpakuto. He managed to shunpo-ed to the hollow's back and slash it completely into half. Once again, the hollow evaporated into thin air.

"Che. What's the difference between now and then?" Ichigo mumbled, swinging the back of Zangetsu to his shoulder. Rukia was standing by, watching, as she started to heal herself with kido. She realized what was happening and ran to Ichigo before it was too late. "Ichigo!" she shouted as she knocked him to the side with her shoulder. She knocked him away as hard as she could, considering her wounds haven't completely healed yet. She winced as the gash reopened itself again.

"Rukia! What are you-" Ichigo was cut off as he landed on the hard ground along with Rukia.

BOOM!A blast of reiatsu exploded right in front of Ichigo's face. Had Rukia not knocked him out of the way, he would've exploded along with the reiatsu.

"Aw... I missed..." the vermilion colored hollow cooed as it smirked.

"Wha-" the shinigami representative stare up at the hollow while Rukia was trying to get herself off of Ichigo. She stood up, leaning on her zanpakuto, which had apparently been stabbed into the ground. Her other hand clutching the piece of black kimono that's covering her gash. "Rukia..." he continued.

"Ichigo, it can regenerate."

"What?!"

"Remember last time we were fighting it? Just before you 'killed' it?" Ichigo nodded in response. "I felt a strange reiatsu spiking up. I figured that was the time it regenerated itself before getting slashed by you." she explained, pulling Sode no Shirayuki out of the ground and pointed it at the hollow. "The catch is, it can regenerate itself anytime it wants and how many times it want to ..."

"Ding!" the hollow shrieked, "You just won yourself a prize, little Missy. To be eaten by me, it is!" it leaped up.

"Tsugi no Mai..." Rukia moved to her stance with particles of white snow fluttering around her. "Hakuren!" she shouted, turning the small particles to large storm of ice which were going right at it. It froze and shattered it to little pieces. "Get up, Ichigo! It's not over yet!" she commanded.

Ichigo stood up and moved to his offensive stance, opening all of his senses, making them as sensitive as possible.

"Yaagh!" he let out a yell of battle as he turned and slashed the new-born hollow in half. And he did that again. And again.

The hollow seemed to be more interested on Ichigo than Rukia, considering Ichigo's reiatsu was oozing out all the time. "Rukia! Heal yourself while I stall this pig-faced bastard!" he yelled.

"Uh...Sure," Rukia replied as the soft green light started healing her gash once more. She sat down as she waited for her kido to heal her completely, but she was still cautious about her situation.

She observed the hollow closely and thoroughly, until she realized that the hollow isn't twice Ichigo's height anymore. It was barely taller than him now.

After about five minutes of waiting -and healing-, her gash had almost completely healed. As for the cuts and bruises, they healed just a minute ago when she had enlarged the range for her kido spell. She put more reiatsu into her kido and focused on healing her gash. It healed in no time at all. She then stood up, grabbed her zanpakuto and moved to her offensive stance.

"Tsugi no Mai! Hakuren!"

The layers of ice covered the vermilion colored hollow, freezing him for a moment. "Listen, Ichigo..." Rukia said, "I did tell you that he can regenerate. I've fought him 25 times to know that. But now that I've observed it completely, it struck me that it is getting smaller every time he dies!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at this statement. He didn't realize that pig-face was shrinking all the time. Well, maybe that's because he was too busy being alert and fighting the exact same bastard all the time, again and again and again! The ice that have been wrapping the said bastard the whole time shattered.

"Well, that explains that, but how do we-" Ichigo asked, but was cut off by the all too familiar inhuman scream coming from behind him.

"Shi-" he turned, grabbing Zangetsu in attempt to block the hollow's attack. But he was too late. The hollow slashed his back with the edge of its spiky elbow. He dropped down to his knees, stabbing Zangetsu into the ground in the process.

"Ichigo!" Rukia ran to his side.

"Rukia, stay back! It's just a shallow gash!"

"No, I will not and no, it isn't! Now shut up and let me heal you!" the same soft green light she had used to heal herself glowed once more.

"Rukia..."

"You're not underestimating me are you, little Missy? I hope you're not...'Cuz I have more from where's that coming from!" the hollow prepared to shoot another ball of reiatsu at her.

"Mask of flesh and blood. All creation fluttering wings, he who is crowned in the name of human beings. Carriage of thunder. Gap of spinning wheel. Together with light, divided into six. On the wall of blue flame, etch a twin lotus. In the abyss of great fire, scorching sun awaits. Bakudou #61-" Rukia chanted, "Rikujoukourou!" she summons thin, but wide beams that slammed into the hollow's midsection, holding it in place.

"Wha-" the hollow accidentally let go of the reiatsu it gathered for its attack.

"Hadou #63..." she positioned her hands, palms facing the hollow. "Souren Soukatsui!"

A huge blast of blue reiatsu was charged towards the hollow. It made a bigBOOM!Noise as it hit it and completely destroyed it.

"Huff...huff..." Rukia breathed steadily as she went back to healing Ichigo's deep gash.

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Ichigo's gash had completely healed. It was deep, but it wasn't as deep as Rukia's, so it took shorter time for her to tend it.

"Thanks, Rukia." Ichigo stood up, pulling Zangetsu out of the ground as he did.

"You know you don't need to thank me." Rukia smirked.

"Whatever. Where is he now?"

"Well..." Rukia put her hand on the edge of her chin, "I also noticed that he needed a lot of reiatsu to regenerate. He had regenerate for about fifty times now, so I'm guessing that he died already or he's in his final state."

BOOM!

"Argh...not again." Ichigo turned, facing the now-is-half-as-tall-as-gillian hollow. This time, the hollow's eyes were crimson red (and it was GLOWING!! Well, it did glow before, but this time it glowed like a light bulb!!). This time, also, it didn't talk. It stood there, staring at the two shinigamis below it. The said shinigamis had a surprised look on their faces. Standing before them, is the fiercer looking hollow, staring right at them. It opened its mouth slowly ,gathered some random reiatsu and focusing it on the center of its mouth.

"Cero!" Ichigo declared, a look of determination written all over his face.

"But...how?" Rukia snapped from her trance and moved back to her stance, readying her zanpakuto.

"Che. Just when I thought the bastard is dead." Ichigo gripped Zangetsu with both his hands and went back to his stance.

The hollow shot its cero at the two shinigamis. Rukia moved to her defensive stance, preparing to defend herself if she have to, but Ichigo stayed in his offensive. He tightened his grip on Zangetsu and jumped towards the cero.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted.

"Che. Don't worry about me. I did this before and I'll do it again if I have to." the carrot-top grinned cockily and glanced at the petite shinigami below him before readying Zangetsu. He positioned it in front of him, its side facing his face. His face is glowed with determination. He focused his reiatsu to his zanpakuto which had started glowing blue.

The cero and Ichigo collided, creating a mass explosion of reiatsu, bluish-white against deep red. For a moment, it looked like an equally powerful match; that is, before Ichigo's glowing zanpakuto divided the cero in half. Ichigo landed back on the ground unharmed.

The now-huge hollow moved. It was thrown aback with the pressure from the collision as the cause. It's vermilion arms swung around, destroying the tall trees that surrounded him. It let out yet another inhuman scream and shook its head wildly. Ichigo leaped up once again and swung his zanpakuto, trying to cut its right arm but to no avail. The hollow swung the said arm and smacked Ichigo on his side, sending him flying to a tree (that it haven't destroyed yet) nearby.

BOOM!

"Ichigo!" Rukia ran up to Ichigo, who was lying on his stomach after hitting the tree head on , hard. She crouch down beside him, putting down Sode no Shirayuki besides her. She turned him to his back, inspecting the bleeding wound the poor tree had inflict. He was shutting his eyes tightly, as if preparing for another impact.

"Ungh...Ru-Rukia?" Ichigo opened his eyes slightly, checking if he still has to bear another impact. "What happened...guh!" he sat up briskly, before wincing slightly in pain.

"Don't move, baka!" Rukia yelled, pushing him back down slowly. Her eyes softened and a concerned look swarmed her pale face.

"Oi, Rukia. You okay? You look...pale."

"Don't I always?" Rukia rolled her violet orbs.

"Paler than usual, I mean"

"Since when are you so observant?"

"Eh? N-No, that's not it-"he was yet cut off by the scream let out from the hollow.

"Right. He's still here." Rukia sighed.

"He's not dead ye- tch!" Ichigo sat up again but winced when he was halfway through.

"Don't move around, damn it!" Rukia pushed him back down gently by the shoulders. "Now stay here. I'll call Inoue and the others." she put both her hands at the side of her mouth. "Kon! Can you come here for a sec?" she called. And out of nowhere, Kon amazingly popped out (again).

"Yes, nee-san!" he saluted.

"Would you please call, Inoue, Ishida and Sado for me?"

"Yes! Anything for you, nee-san!" and with that, Kon went off as Rukia started pinning the struggling-to-get-up Ichigo in place until Orihime came and healed him.

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Meanwhile, at Karakura High...

Kon climbed up the wall with all his might for his precious nee-san. It's not an easy task if you're a soul that is stuck in a lion stuffed animal. Well, the lion part makes him feel better, but he would've preferred it if Urahara would've give him a gigai like how he gave Ririn and everyone else!!

Kon sighed as he reached one of the windows of Ichigo's homeroom. Then, he slammed his face on the said window, scanning for the ginger-haired girl, the Quincy and the Gentle Giant. 'A-ha! There they are!' Kon thought as he spotted the three paying attention to the teacher and taking notes.

He quickly shuffled carefully to the nearest window near the ginger-haired girl. He wish that the kind ginger-haired girl would notice him and invite him to her valley of the go- 'Wait! No more daydreaming Kon!' he told himself, 'Nee-san needs you right now!' and so, he jumped up and down -carefully, of course- to capture the attention of the bubbly girl or if he lucky, all of the three.

Orihime, Ishida and Sado snapped and jerked their heads toward the direction of the jumping stuffed animal outside the window. "Nee-san needs you..." he mouthed. Fortunately for Kon, all three of them got the message, they just needed a distraction. Unfortunately, there was none, so all they could think of was...

"Sensei!" all three of them said in unison as they stood up-also in unison.

"Y-Yes?" Ochi-sensei replied, turning away from the blackboard she was writing on.

"May I-we please be excused?" Ishida said, pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"Why?" Ochi-sensei shot a curious look to the Quincy.

"Uh...well..." Orihime stuttered, playing with her warm orange locks, trying to make something up.

"We need to go to the toilet." Sado said calmly. All eyes were on him. He barely talks for heaven's sake! 'They must have to go to the bathroom really, REALLY badly.'they all thought.

"Yeah! That's it!" Orihime snapped her fingers.

"All three of you?" Ochi-sensei raised an eyebrow. Orihime and Ishida stared at each other blankly. They were both goody-two-shoes! How the heck do they suppose to know how to lie?

"No. Only Ishida is going to the toilet. I will check on Ichigo while Orihime checks on Kuchiki-san." Sado managed to, once again, saves the day. Orihime and Ishida nodded furiously at his answer.

"Okay, then..." Ochi-sensei nodded approvingly. 'Woah. Sado talked twice today. I wonder what's happening...' she thought as Orihime, Ishida, and Sado trotted out of the class. Orihime closed the door and let out a relieved sigh together with Ishida. Sado just stood there and stared at the two relieved students.

"Aren't we supposed to be running to Kuchiki-san's location now?" Sado asked. Orihime and Ishida stared blankly at him before Ishida comes up with a,

"Right! Let's go!"

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed the story!! It's summer here in Finland, so I'll update faster!! (I think) I have it all written until chapter... nine (?) you just have to wait for me to publish it! I'll try to be as fast as I could!! And I'm being a horrible sister to my siblings cuz I'm hogging the computer all day!! MUAHAHAHAH!!