Hello again. Here's another chapter of Savage.
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The stereotypical waking up of a hangover.
Not what Ichigo had expected to do mid way through the day of Rukia's execution.
The world before the Human-turned-Shinigami blurred, spun and throbbed all at once, even while he was sprawled out, flat on his back on what felt like concrete...
Weird, he hadn't seen any urban areas in the Soul Society so far. Why was it different now? And why did he hear a... rumble? That was strange, for sure. It almost sounded like an...
"EARTHQUAKE!" He shot to his feet, planning to alert anyone he could find; the practise he had been taught while at school. Getting the little kids to safety was of utmost importance.
Well, that had been the plan. As it turns out, Ichigo just fell back down, this time landing on his face instead of his back.
That was a lot more uncomfortable, and so he let out a pained groan that was, apparently, well received.
A... tinkling, for lack of a better word, reached the 'hungover' man, and Ichigo flopped over to try to locate the source of the noise. He found it soon enough, and was unsure of just how he should react to such a sight.
A beautiful girl, and he couldn't help but notice how rare it was for him to meet ugly ones, looked down at him curiously. And by looked down, he meant that she was suddenly bent over so that her face was, perhaps, 2 inches from Ichigo's face.
"Bahh!" Ichigo yelled, shocked.
"Eeee!" The mystery woman responded; not moving her face so much as a millimeter away.
"What the..." Ichigo muttered, as the strange girl cooed and bent further, nuzzling Ichigo's face with her own. As the woman finished... whatever she was doing, Ichigo noted a more worrying fact than the girl's behaviour. Though only by a narrow margin.
Her head was on fire.
No, wait. Her hair was on fire.
Or was her hair just fire?
Yes, he was going to settle on her hair consisting of fire. For some reason, he didn't freak out as much as he should have done. Ichigo just shot to his feet, forgetting his killer headache in an instant, and patted his head, followed by his torso, checking for burns.
Truth be told, he wasn't even that shocked when he didn't find any. The girl appeared as though she should have, at the very least, third degree burns on her scalp, but seemed happy.
He turned to the hot-looking, in more ways than one, girl, with his hands still positioned on the back of his head where he had most recently checked for the injuries, and found the girl there, standing with her hands placed on the back of her head.
Ichigo removed his own, and she followed.
He raised his right hand, and she raised her's. His left, and she copied. He tilted his head to the side, in a show of confusion, and she did the same.
"Who are you?"
Chirp.
"You're... chirp?"
She shook her head, and tilted it to the side, before raising her arms from their position at her sides, and beginning to... flap them.
"You're... a bird?" She nodded enthusiastically, and pointed at her flaming hair. "A bird... fire... Oh! Are you saying that you're the... Sokyoku?" She gave a grumpy-sounding huff. "Okay, not the Sokyoku... are you Kikoo?" She smiled happily and gave a pleased chirp. "Okay, then..." Ichigo looked around, and found he instantly recognised his, slightly destroyed, as though an earthquake had struck it, inner world. "Do you know why you're in my inner world, Kikoo?" She gave another happy nod. "Do you know where one of the others is?" Chirp and she skipped away. Ichigo assumed he was meant to follow her. So he did.
"Ah." Ichigo commented, as they reached another of his Inner World's residents. "Hi, Tabigarasu. Sorry, I kind of meant one of the others that can explain how Kikoo has come to be in my mindscape."
Truth be told, Ichigo was a little afraid of Tabigarasu. He stood around as tall as Old Man Zangetsu; so Ichigo was looking him in the chin when they were stood toe to toe. Furthermore, he wasn't human. He was... hell, Ichigo didn't know what he was. He appeared to be a... shadow, or something. Just an indistinct, human-shaped, mass of darkness with disturbing, blood red eyes.
He nodded slowly, understanding, before raising his hand and making a beckoning, 'follow me' gesture and turned tail. Kikoo hung back, and began walking besides Ichigo, chatterring excitedly, despite the fact that Ichigo couldn't actually understand what she said. Even so, Ichigo enjoyed the happiness she seemed to transfer to him, as her wide smile never dropped off her face.
-()-()-()-()-()-
"Hmm?... Okay... Got it... Right... Okay, thank you, Kikoo." Zangetsu could understand her apparently; because he was a Zanpakuto himself. He turned to his wielder with a slight frown. "Okay, Ichigo. I can explain it in detail, or just a summary, if you would rather. I would recommend being quick about this though. Time passes at a slower rate in here, as you know, but you are running out of time outside."
"Okay. Just summarise it." Ichigo had sat on the ground, with Kikoo sat next to him, Zangetsu across from him, and Tabigarasu... oh, apparently he had left for somewhere.
"Kikoo is Tabigarasu's sister, apparently. While he had never told us, we have long suspected that he had more to his story. It was, in simplified terms, that there used to be an old method of execution... they would strip the soul away, in order to prevent reincarnation. Tabigarasu, and Kikoo where the Zanpakuto of the only two Soul Reapers to be killed in that manner. Tabigarasu vanished into the Human World, as he was a, for lack of a better word, free Zanpakuto. It sounds like he had an... unpleasant time. Kikoo, they were prepared for and, somehow, they captured her. That is how she became 'the Sokyoku'." The girl next to him was sombrer than she had been so far. Ichigo didn't like that, and wrapped an arm around her; a smile came back to her face, and was directed at her newfound wielder. "Now, she's here. And... well, you've got another partner, Ichigo."
"And I'm glad." Ichigo said, with a grin at the flaming haired girl. Orange-Yellow eyes met brown as her relief, evidently she had been worried about his reaction to her needing him to wield her.
Honestly, though, what would the be the downside? Ichigo couldn't think of one, but couldn't help but worry about whether he was tempting fate.
-()-()-()-()-
'Hmm.' Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto thought to himself. 'I didn't expect this...' The Ryoka, Ichigo Kurosaki, crashed into the ground, bringing up a cloud of dust, at the bottom of the execution stand, just as Jushiro Ukitake arrived in a blur of Shunpo. For some, strange reason, he was holding a large, noble family's shield, with a cord attatched that seemed to have two sword-sized slots. It must have been from the Shihoin clan, since Yamamoto knew the symbol well.
Granted, he had been, for lack of a better word, cheering on Kurosaki Ichigo since the invasion started, but the idea that two of his captains, for surely Shunsui was assisting his friend, had been on the side of the Ryoka rubbed Genryusai the wrong way.
"I'm afraid you're too late, Jushiro." The 8th division captain said, calmly, to his friend.
"What? You mean Rukia..." His gaze snapped up to the stand. "No. No, Rukia seems fine... but where... Where is the Sokyoku, Shunsui?" His tone conveyed the sickly captain's confusion.
"It seems the Ryoka beat you to it, old friend." He nodded towards the unconscious stranger.
"He... How?" The white haired man gasped, not understanding in the slightest what was meant by that statement. Ukitake was under the impression the Shihoin Shield was the only thing capable of such a thing.
"Not a clue." The woman's-coat-wearing Captain returned his gaze to the spot at the bottom. "Perhaps... we aught to ask him." The boy was no longer there; but it was rather clear where he would have gone. So, Kyoraku tilted his head up in time to see a burst of water spray Rukia Kuchiki in the face, waking her up quickly.
"Bah! What the hell, Baka?!" The 'midget' gasped, as she was woken in a less-than-enjoyable manner.
"What?" Ichigo retorted. "It's your fault for choosing such a dumb time to fall asleep." The trident vanished, to be replaced by a large Khyber knife. "Now, hold still, I need to get you free." The flying man flipped over the top of Rukia, and landed on the stand itself.
"W-What are you doing, Ichigo?" She had decided that was the best thing to call him, even if he possessed Nejibana. At that thought, she glanced down at the ground; surely Captain Ukitake had seen the Shikai. Yep, he had. The normally composed man was stood, staring at Ichigo with his mouth agape. After all, if you died the hair black, he would look almost exactly like kaien; and he had the Lieutenant's Zanpakuto. She could almost hear her captain wondering if he was seeing a ghost. "Why are you here?!" Apparently the situation had registered with her. "I told you not to come here! I told you I'd never forgive you!"
"Ain't it obvious? I'm going to smash this stand. Besides; I'd rather have you alive and pissed at me than dead and not." He smirked, as he threw Zangetsu into the air, and began to spin it, once more, like a buzzsaw.
"What?! Y-You can't! The stand! It's too strong, you'll kill us both!"
Ichigo ignored the worried exclamation, and carried on.
-()-()-()-()-()-()-
Soi Fon, Captain of the Second Division, was stood, watching with shock only slightly better hidden than the others around her; though the contrast on her ordinarily emotionless face was greater than any of her fellows.
It was almost hilarious, the baffled look on Ukitake; one of the oldest, and best informed, captain's face. Well; it was almost hilarious to Soi Fon. Kyoraku was snickering into his hand; doing a rather poor job of hiding his amusement.
As Ichigo, though she didn't know when she started calling the Ryoka by his given name, was berated by the prisoner, the petite Captain spotted a blue glow from beneath his scowling brow; it was a common indication of a Shinigami focusing their Reiryoku.
'Surely he's not going to-' She was cut off by Ichigo, indeed, catching the cleaver-like blade, tip pointed down, with both hands gripping the bandaged hilt.
Ichigo may have given a grunt, or something of the sort, from the massive burst of Reiatsu he gave off, but it was entirely drowned out by the incredible, concussive force that burst forth from stand, originating at the point into which the orange haired human stabbed his Khyber's tip.
The now openly amazed, small in stature, Captain noted dispassionately that her so-called Lieutenant had been knocked to the ground, while the second-seat officers of the others had been swiftly caught by their captains to prevent the same fate. Even Yamamoto had outstretched his cane and, with ease, supported his, admittedly less than the other Lieutenants, overwhelmed Vice-Captain.
-()-()-()-
"You get real annoying sometimes, Rukia. With your 'You can't do this' and your 'Don't save me'. Don't you ever get tired of being wrong?" A voice came from inside a cloud of dust that had now engulphed the prisoner and her saviour. "That's why I don't listen to you." The dust cleared, showing a tall, orange haired man nonchalauntly carrying the Kuchiki girl.
"I'm not going to say... thank you..."Rukia muttered, tearing up as she dangled from Ichigo's grip.
Down below, the prevalent emotion was one of shock.
"The... Cross..." Isane Kotetsu murmured, amazed at the fact that majority of the joining bar from the stand was simply gone.
"H-H-He busted it!" Kotsubaki, the male 3rd seat of Squad 13, exclaimed.
"Wh-What the hell is he?!" Omaeda yelled. Though that tended to be the way he said everything.
The Captains, meanwhile, as well as the other seated officers, remained silent; focused entirely on the man stood atop the stand's remnants.
"Ichigo..." The girl under his left arm began. "I have to ask; what is your plan now? How are we going to escape from... here? There's no clever way for us to vanish in front of so many skilled eyes, and high ranking officers, is there?" She gave a halfhearted gesture downwards towards the Shinigami, as her bloodflow was directed towards her head.
"Make a run for it?" Ichigo suggested, with a shrug.
"Make a- Make a run for it?! That is your plan?!" She exclaimed, far louder this time. "We can't get away, you Baka!"
"Eh? Okay, then, I'll beat them all first. Then we won't have anyone to chase us." He looked down at them, judging who the ones he'd been told not to fight outright were. "Or I'll hand you off to Yoruichi and cause a big enough distraction for us al to have long enough to escape."
"You mean you are going to stay behind?! No! No, I refuse!" The girl sreeched at Ichigo. "You can't expect me to just leave you here to die!"
"Who said I expected to die? I'm faster than that lot... in a straight line, at least."
"You can't outrun my brother, Ichigo!"
"First; yes I can. Second; I intend to beat the shit out of your brother before I go. I have a score to settle with him."
"You can't beat him either!"
"Disagree." At this, the noises of a commotion reached them. Ichigo let out a surprised noise. "Hm? What was that?" A heavilly bandaged, red, pineapple haired Shinigami was seen, just having knocked out the last of the Kido corps present. "Oh? You finally got here then, Renji?" Ichigo questioned, calling to the, now down on one knee from pains in his gut, Soul Reaper.
"Renji!" Rukia called subsequently, relieved he had not died.
"Rukia!"
"I'm so glad to see you're alive!"
"I figured you'd show up." Ichigo commented.
"Damn right. If I didn't come, who'd save Rukia?"
"Me, probably." Ichigo smirked, drawing a vein out in Renji's forhead. "But, anyway, get ready."
"What do you mean 'get ready'? W-Wait... Y-You wouldn't..."
Ichigo had lifted the girl, with ease, above his head. Almost in the position to... throw her.
"Oi, Ichigo! W-What are you doing?!" Rukia demanded, as her savior drew back.
"CATCH!"
With a scream, Rukia was thrown down, through the air, towards Renji.
"CRAZY BASTARD!" Renji yelled right back.
Rukia and Renji collided and, bringing up a cloud of dust in his wake, the red haired man dug a trench through the ground behind him.
"YOU CRAZY LUNATIC, ICHIGO!" Rukia screamed at the man who had just thrown her.
"WHAT'D YOU DO IF I'D DROPPED HER, YOU DUMBASS?!" In response, Ichigo's Khyber knife vanished.
"Fuck off." His voice carried.
"WHAT WA-"
"FUCK OFF! Take her and go! Now! That's what you're here for, right? So GO!" He reached a hand up to the brooch, or what seemed to be a brooch, of his cape, and it disconnected, flying into the air and, unknown to those present, being picked up by servants of the Shihoin clan.
As the Red haired man took off at a sprint, ignoring the strain his body felt, and the soft protests of his charge, Soi Fon performed her role rather well... Well, Ichigo thought she was playing the part, but she might have wanted the two she still kind of perceived of as criminals caught. It was her duty, after all.
"What are you waiting for, you imbeciles?!" She roared at her nervous Lieutenant. "All Lieutenants AFTER THEM!"
Recieving confirmation from their own captains, Chojiro Sasakibe and Isane Kotetsu, as well as Marechiyo Omaeda, took off at a run after them. Only to leave Ichigo wondering why they did not use the speed technique virtually all officers were familiar with.
Instead, they allowed Ichigo to intercept them with the same technique. The orange haired man appeared in front of them; arms relaxed at his sides. The trio, and those behind them, got a good look at him now.
The Ryoka was wearing a sleeveless Shihakusho, that was a solid, Jet black. It was slightly form fitting on his upper body, though not enough to constrict, and therefore hinder movement, but was looser on his lower, allowing his legs, as well as his arms from having no sleeves, to move freely. A red sash wrapped around his waist, supporting a katana with a dark blue hilt, and was the only colour, other than his hair, that was obvious to them at this point. Plain black shoes sat on his feet.
What drew their attention, however, was that in the center of his chest, the material was burned away in a perfect circle about 5 inches in diametre, hinting at a muscular chest beneath. Well, that was the second thing. The first was that every inch of his arms, and presumably his covered body, other than his hands and face was covered in bandages. Likely from the hilt of the Khyber they had seen before. Two of the three would have commented on the presumed injuries, had the third not interrupted.
"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Omaeda roared.
"Sprint, Itegumo!" The female Lieutenant present exclaimed, followed by the white haired man, who had yet to speak. The main body of her Zanpakuto thinned and straightened, while two new blades appeared next to it; branching off slightly.
"Pierce, Gonryomaru!" His blade turned to a rapier.
"Crush, Gegetsuburi!" The fat man's blade turned into an oversized flail, with large spikes sticking from the ball hanging on the end of a long chain.
Which was promptly shattered. The three Vice-Captains were confused.
Why had Gegutsuburi smashed?
That was also where their attention was. And, so, they did not notice the fact that Ichigo was now stood behind the oversized Soul Reaper, his foot raised as he faced the Lieutenant.
Ichigo's leg snapped straight, slamming into Omaeda's back, and sent the heavy Shinigami flying with a crunch. He moved faster than he would have been capable of, outside of Flash Step and of his own volition, and sailed towards the fleeing pair, and past them, while screaming profanities due to a mixture of pain and frustration. Mostly pain.
Taking advantage of the Vice-Captains' surprise, Ichigo moved, in a blur, to the First Division's Lieutenant. An open palm of the Ex-Human slammed into the orange skinned Lieutenant's jaw, sending him to the ground; unconscious.
The grey haired Officer had the time, just about, to widen her eyes before man's palm hit her in the gut; knocking the breath from Isane and rendering her unconscious in an instant.
Genryusai was, understandably, surprised. His Lieutenant possessed Bankai, and Isane Kotetsu was no pushover either, yet young Kurosaki had had no difficulty with either of them whatsoever. It was a rare feat to be able to defeat two Lieutenants without so much as the use of one's Zanpakuto. Even some of the captains would be hard pressed to do so without their Shikai.
It really highlighted the difference in the powers of his fellows.
On one level, not to sound arrogant, he would place himself. That much would have been true for anybody that possessed Ryujin Jaka, and Yamamoto very much wished to observe the power of the Sokyoku to know the strength when it was in the possession of a wielder. He knew the origin of his greatest execution tool, and was sure that it had found a new host. That was the only explanation of recent events the Head-Captain could think of.
Next, he would have to say that Shunsui, in the event that he applied himself, was the strongest of his Captains. He outdid Jushiro for the simple reason of the latter's sickness, and Restu was... complicated. He was unsure where to place her on the ranking, but figured it would be below his lazy student.
After that, it became more difficult to decide which of the captains were most capable; potentially coming down to the variety of their skills and how they would fare against one another.
The most obvious example would be Captain Hitsugaya. He had great potential, for sure, but was still too untrained to have mastered his own powers. It was strange that he saw this as more of a problem for Toshiro than Ichigo, but the Human-turned-Shinigami had an incredible growth rate from what the Captain Commander had seen. But to what extent this was true would be revealed soon enough, for sure.
Zaraki, too, was tough to define. He was incredibly strong, but his skillset consisted of very little in comparison to the others of his rank. He was far too reckless in Genryusai's opinion.
Captain Kuchiki was too... stifled. Held back by himself by his strange sense of duty. The Head Captain would expect, from the most senior of his captains, for the decision to execute a family member to be questioned at the very least. Here, Ukitake was rebelling for the sake of one of his Division members.
Soi Fon was similar, her worth was diminished by her inability to look at things in a more detached manner. She was obsessed with fulfilling her duty solely to her superiors. Although... that may be changing, since she had been reunited with the woman who had turned her into such an emotionless killer.
Aizen... Well, he was too secretive for a definitive ranking, but had struck Yamamoto as a strong Shinigami.
Komamura was loyal solely to Genryusai himself, because of the gratitude he felt towards somebody looking past his outward appearance to the man beneath. That may be a god thing, but Yamamoto was well aware that he himself was fallible.
Kaname Tosen was, of course, hindered by his blindness but had long since learned how to get around that using his Spiritual powers. He was powerful, and had a useful Zanpakuto even if Yamamoto could see obvious flaws in it, but had a strange overconfidence in his own perception. He would not take the opinions of others into account when deciding the best course of action. His Bankai, too, was fairly easy to circumvent if you knew its nature. If one simply ran in one particular direction, they'd escaped it soon enough because of its range.
Gin Ichimaru was... different. He made virtually everyone uneasy because of his nature, and Genryusai would rather not have someone like that in such a powerful position. He believed that Gin was, somehow, involved in the slaughtered town that had recently been discovered. Ichimaru was... amoral.
The unease Gin inspired was overshadowed, however, by the final captain. Mayuri Kurotsuchi was a disturbing man. His treatment of his subordinates, especially Nemu, his lieutenant, disturbed virtually everyone. And that was without delving into the... experiments performed by the scientist. Genryusai missed Kisuke Urahara when he was forced to deal with the man's replacement.
As these summaries ran through the aged Captains mind, the events on top of the Sokyoku hill had evolved.
Ichigo Kurosaki spun, while drawing his single visible Zanpakuto, and snapped to attention, his sword held to block an invisible blow. His opponent's speed was shown once more in that moment.
"I've already told you. I see you..." Ichigo began, with a grin resembling that of his Inner Hollow. "Byakuya Kuchiki!"
Sorry 'bout ending it there.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway.