Chapter 3
Three pairs of eyes were trained on the orange head in the middle of a group of five people. Each pair of eyes were wide open and demanding an explanation as why a bald man, (sword to the throat) *cough*, man who shaves his head, a pretty boy, the red head who had shot off half of the dad's hair on his last visit, and the girl who lost everything in a house fire, were all standing in the doorway with their son.
"So yeah, can they stay?"
"NO!!!" the three family members exploded while the group ran upstairs and shut themselves up in Ichigo's room.
"Rukia has closet space. Yumichika has…bed space because I think I'd rather keep my head. Ikkaku has floor space, Renji has floor space, and I have…NO SPACE?!"
"Che, whatever Ichigo, deal with it, you're a guy." Rukia patted him on the shoulder before tapping the closet door shut.
"It's very unbeautiful for me to sleep anywhere other than the most comfortable space available." Yumichika plopped himself onto the bed and pulled up the covers.
"I'm sleeping." Ikkaku kicked out and fell right asleep leaving Ichigo to glower over at Renji.
"I'll go on the roof." Renji shrugged, dumping his gigai in the closet with a napping Rukia, leaving Ichigo to stare dumbfounded in his wake. Did Renji seriously just give in that easily? The orange head look over to where Ikkaku was snoring and drooling. He had a damn good reason then.
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Renji ascended to the roof and immediately spread himself out in exhaustion. Who knew just trying to recruit five friends would completely drive even a baboon brain bananas. A loud protective growl from Zambimaru stopped that train of thought in its tracks. Renji was not in the mood to have a hairy ape with a biting tail to chase him around Karakura town at this hour.
However, despite being tired, his mind was not at all at rest. The curtness of the message was one thing. Why must they stay in the real world? When should they return? Will there be contact? But the flippant behavior of his Taicho when delivering it to him was another. This was one of the first times that while he was in the real world on a "mission," his Taicho had been given another assignment at the same time.
"Taicho…"
He fell into a restless sleep.
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"GRAB HIM!!!" White faces glowered through the darkened terrain flooded with footsteps sounding throughout the forest. Clashing swords contrasted with the darkness of the settling night. Pale hands grabbed for comfort of the nearest tree trunk while the sagging figure tried desperately to gain his breath. Grey eyes fixed themselves onto the ground, blinking rapidly to rid them of the blood dripping steadily down his forehead. It had been an ambush.
"THERE HE IS!!" The tree lost the comforting hand as the figure once more groped blindly forward, forcing itself into shunpo. It collapsed halfway, falling into the dirt, staining its satin attire with brown and red. Clawing with every last bit of energy left, the figure tried to rise but was forced into the dirt once more as a foot stamped down hard onto his back.
"Not so tough now are ya," a harsh tone ground out, matching the malice with every grind of his foot. "Are ya shinigami?" Everything faded to black.