Byakuya stormed through the corridors of the squad one barracks. How had this happened? Rukia had run off, and that damn Kurosaki had slashed his back open. Why couldn't she see he just wanted her to be safe?
He had simply done what was best for Rukia, how could she not see that? To be honest, he didn't particularly dislike the Kurosaki boy, sure he was disrespectful, rude and annoying, but he did seem like an honest kid, and he had a good heart. It was just that he was a danger to Rukia. He remembered her anger in front of the central 46 building, he had done the right thing. Hadn't he?
He entered the captains meeting and took his place. The Soutaichou banged his cane and spoke up " I am sure you have all read the reports on the breakout from central 46, and the encounter in the human world." they all nodded " Kurotsuchi Taichou has informed me he had some new findings to report."
The deranged scientist stepped forward, "indeed I have, yesterday, a garganta opened up in the human world, beneath Kisuke Urahara's shop, and the Reiatsu of all the occupants, including the escapees vanished, apparently into said garganta."
There were murmurs at this, and the captain commander slammed his cane again, demanding silence. He spoke up "from Kurotsuchi Taichou's report, we can assume that Kurosaki Ichigo and the others are currently living in Las Noches, as it is the only secure structure in Hueco Mundo. Zaraki Taichou, Kuchiki Taichou, I want both of you to pick 50 of your best men, and prepare for an assault on Las Noches, each other captain will pick 20 of their best men to join the assault. Those squads without captains will have the next highest officer available pick the men needed, Komamura Taichou, it is your responsibility to have messengers inform said officers of this task. Kuchiki Taichou will lead the assault. Does everyone understand?"
Kenpachi suddenly spoke up, "what? Why the hell does he get to the lead the assault? I want the first fight with Kurosaki, you hear!"
The Soutaichou looked exasperatedly at the huge captain. "Zaraki Taichou, you are an excellent fighter, but while we have the larger numbers, Kurosaki has some of the most powerful still-living captains in soul society history, and then there's the boy himself!"
Kenpachi raised an eyebrow, "what's your point?'
The Soutaichou sighed, "my point, Zaraki Taichou, is that Kurosaki Ichigo is far too powerful for any man, even you, to face in single combat! He defeated Aizen, who had the power of the hogyoku on his side! And now it appears he has gained Kyoka Suigetsu as well! In order to defeat Kurosaki and his friends, we must have a captain leading the assault force who can utilise strategy. That is why I have put Kuchiki Taichou in charge!"
Kenpachi shrugged, "when you put it that way, it does sound boring. Fine, he can lead. But I want to be at the front of the assault force, leading the charge.'
The head captain sighed. "fine. Now does everyone understand?" there was a round of "Hai Soutaichou." and the meeting was dismissed with the rap of a cane.
Ichigo looked at the force soul society had assembled, and felt slightly flattered, before turning to Renji. "run and tell everyone else about the attack, and tell them to meet me here meet me here immediately." Renji looked a bit disgruntled about being told what to do, before running back into Las Noches.
Three minutes later, everyone was assembled, and the shinigami force was getting closer, Ichigo felt a bit worried, "there sure is a lot of them, this is gonna be tough."
Shinji smirked, "don't worry about it Ichigo, quality over quantity right?" Ichigo smirked too "sure, quality over quantity."
He took a moment to think, "Okay, I'll fight Kenpachi, Shinji, you use your Zanpakuto to disorient Byakuya and Nel, you use your speed to combat his Senbonsakura. Yoruichi, you protect our left flank, and Urahara-san, you protect the right. Ishida, you stay at the back and weaken them with your arrows, Inoue and Chad, you protect Ishida, as they will try to take him out at close range. Hachi, you use your barriers to protect people if they look like they're in danger, and everyone else, just charge in and take out the rest. Everyone got that?" they all nodded, impressed with his strategy, as it seemed sound.
Satisfied, Ichigo turned around and shunpoed towards his target, when Zaraki noticed Ichigo was heading towards him, a huge smile broke out on his face. They drew their blades and faced each other, then Kenpachi shouted gleefully, "Hey Ichigo, I want a good fight okay? None of that illusion crap!" Ichigo smirked and agreed, before pulling on his hollow mask. Kenpachi hadn't said anything about that after all.
Rukia looked around, after Ichigo had made contact with Zaraki, they had all split up into individual fights, they easily overpowered most of the shinigami, and Rukia was surprised at how much she had grown.
She was brought out of her thinking by a Zanpakuto heading towards her face, she quickly dodged, and looked at the shinigami wielding it, he was tall, about six foot, with jet black, medium length hair and a cocky smirk so much like Ichigo's she couldn't help but smile, he swung at her again, and she blocked with difficulty, he was very fast.
She jumped away and twirled her blade, "Dance, Sode No Shirayuki"
At the same time, he held his blade horizontally in front of his body, "Infect, Kurushimeru".
As her snow white Zanpakuto appeared, his grew into a black shaft, around five and a half feet long, with a scythe blade on each end, and Rukia noticed that the blades faced opposite directions. It looked like a fearsome weapon, but if she could get inside his reach, he'd be powerless.
She shunpoed towards him, and he stepped back and span his blade in an arc around his body, alternating his spin so fast it looked as though his blade had formed a cocoon around his body.
She stepped away and saw his strategy, if he span the blade fast enough, it was impossible to get inside its reach where he was vulnerable, she was just preparing a strategy to get past this when he shunpoed behind her, posed to strike.
She just managed to block by stopping the shaft with her blade, when she noticed his smirk, she looked up and saw the blade of his scythe was facing away from her, she frowned, and then she realised, his true aim was to get his other blade underneath her!
She looked down and sure enough, there was his black blade between her legs, moving quickly upwards towards her body.
The blade was just about to hit her skin when a hand grabbed the shaft, stopping it. She looked up to see that Ichigo had once again saved her, her opponent wore a strange expression as he looked at Ichigo, a mixture of awe, hatred and, hurt? He shunpoed away from Ichigo and said a single word, before disappearing in a cloud of green Reiatsu.
"Bankai".
The cloud disappeared, and there he stood, on each hand was a piece of black armour, that ran up his arms and joined together at his neck, from each armour covered finger extended a foot long scythe blade, giving him eight blades in total. Rukia thought his shikai had looked more useful, but she remained wary as he spoke, "Seishin Kurushimeru"
he lifted his right hand at Ichigo, and pointed his index finger accusingly. They both expected some sort of speech, but instead they heard a faint click, and the blade flew from his finger towards them, or more specifically towards Ichigo's chest.
They dodged, and Ichigo saw that the blade was connected to the armour by a metal cord, which was swiftly rewinding. The blade flew back into place, and the shinigami quickly raised them to defend. Ichigo raised Kyoka Suigetsu and said "shatter"
Before he could release however, his opponent had closed his eyes and jumped backwards, Ichigo cursed, Kyoka wasn't going to be of much use here, he sheathed her and held Zangetsu in front of him, before realising, I don't know his release! He then heard Zangetsu whisper to him, and shouted "Banish the rain! Zangetsu!" the sealed blade swiftly transformed into the familiar cleaver like blade, and Ichigo charged in. At the same time, Ichigo heard eight faint clicks, and all eight of his opponents blades came flying at him, Ichigo swiftly realised that evading or blocking eight blades simultaneously was very difficult.
His opponent was very good, he manipulated the eight blades like a master puppeteer, but while Ichigo had him occupied, Rukia had been chanting and finally shouted "Bakudo #9, Geki!"
Their opponent fell to the floor, temporarily paralysed. Ichigo noticed that the rest of the shinigami were retreating, with the two captains leading them back through a garganta, the three hundred strong force had been reduced to roughly 100, and those who had survived looked heavily wounded. Ichigo smiled and thought, quality over quantity indeed.
Ichigo looked down at the shinigami he had captured, he needed to question him. He noticed Urahara and asked, "Urahara-San, do you have anything in your lab that can seal reiatsu?" the scientist reached into his pocket and pulled out a Reiatsu sealing collar, then threw it to Ichigo, who resisted the urge to ask why he carried these around, and instead clipped it around the shinigami's neck.
Ichigo led the captured man into Las Noches, and into the first empty room he came across. There were two chairs, and they each sat in one of them. Ichigo looked at his captive, the man was staring at the floor, fists clenched, and Ichigo could practically feel his anger. "What do you know about Hanatarou Yamada?" Ichigo asked.
The man stayed silent and Ichigo's small amount of patience quickly ran out, he was about to speak up when the man finally answered, "Why?"
Ichigo was annoyed, "because he's my friend and-"
The man interrupted him with a shout, "why did you betray soul society!"
The captured shinigami finally looked up at him and there were tears in the corners of his eyes, "I idolised you, you're the reason I was finally able to graduate the academy and become a shinigami. And you-"
Ichigo cut him off, shocked. "What the hell are you talking about? Soul society betrayed me!"
The shinigami stared at him disbelieving, and replied in shock, "what? What do you mean? You ran off to Hueco Mundo to team up with the hollows."
"Who the hell told you that bullshit? Soul society used me to kill Aizen, then the moment I ceased to be useful, they tried to have me killed!"
The man looked hopeful for a minute, before scepticism crossed his features and he asked, "how can I believe you, when you're here, in Hueco Mundo, fighting alongside arrancar?."
"I am here because it is the safest place to hide, I fight alongside an arrancar because she is my friend, not some heartless monster. And you can believe me, because I am telling the truth." the shinigami looked into the Vaizard's eyes, and new it was so.
The man looked down again and was silent for a minute or so before saying, "I never should have doubted you. When the captain told me you were a traitor, I never should have believed it, I'm sorry."
Ichigo rubbed the back of his head and said, "it's okay, we all make mistakes, what's your name?"
"Fosuta Tomasu, sixth squad third seat."
Ichigo noticed the relatively low position, "third seat? You have bankai, and you're quite powerful, why aren't you a captain?"
He shrugged "I am... Was a candidate for captaincy."
"Was?"
Tomasu grinned, "You don't think I'm going back do you? I'm staying here… if you'll have me."
Ichigo never was the suspicious type, "sure, good to have you. So, do you know Hanatarou?"
Tomasu was surprised that Ichigo had accepted him so readily, then he thought for a moment before he shook his head, "No I don't, sorry, what squad is he?"
"Squad four, or he used to be, he is supposed to be executed for helping me rescue Rukia."
Tomasu remembered something, "oh yeah, I heard some guy in squad four was supposed to be executed for helping you, I didn't really pay attention though, so I don't know much beyond that."
Ichigo took off his Reiatsu collar and undid his binding spell, and said, "That's alright, I'll just ask Yoruichi-San to find out, I just hoped that I could find out sooner through you. Anyway, just make yourself at home." he then walked off in search of Yoruichi.
He found her soon enough, he had gotten much better at sensing Reiatsu. "Hey Yoruichi-San, can you sneak into soul society?"
Yoruichi gave a little chuckle before saying, "easier than a walk in the park, why?"
"I need you to find out when Hanatarou's execution is taking place."
Yoruichi jumped up and gave a mock salute, "Hai Kurosaki-Taichou." she joked, and shunpoed away as Ichigo scowled.
Ichigo wandered a bit and found himself in the throne room, where he found Rukia looking around. "Find anything interesting in here?" he asked.
She shook her head, "not really, I was looking for the place Aizen kept the hogyoku, figured it would be the safest place to put it."
Ichigo scoffed, "yeah like Urahara would let you take it from him, I'm sure he's found a safe hiding place for it, and besides, I need you to do something for me."
Rukia raised one eyebrow, "Oh really?"
Ichigo blushed, "I need you to write a list of the captains who voted for and against sending me to central 46."
Ichigo was surprised to see Rukia look a bit disappointed, "Ok then, I'll get right to it."
Ichigo smirked as she walked past him, "Rukia, have you got a room yet?"
She looked back at him, "not really, I've picked one but I haven't really settled in yet, why?"
Ichigo looked back at her, "take your stuff to my room and get settled in, I'll see you tonight." he gave a slight wink as he said this, giving the illusion of calm confidence, while inside he was a nervous wreck.
He saw Rukia's eyes widen slightly, and she smiled back, "I look forward to it." she said, and walked away, beaming.
A/N anyone who wants to know how ichigo and kenpachi's fight went, review or message me and if i get enough support for it i'll work it into a flashback later, other wise i just won't bother. also, if anyone is interested in my oc, further information can be found on my profile along with a full bio, so check that out. as always let me know what you think!