Chapter 02

Bloodbath

Now—

Something was different inside him—he could feel Hyourinmaru pushing away for the past month.

Ever since that beast had come into his life, things had been getting weird for a while as the visits he received had been lessened. As much as he had been irritated by Momo constantly trying to play with him every day, he had now begun to miss the annoyance. She had been recovering greatly for the past five years during all her mystery trips to the unknown during that time in which led to this. Her running off with oversized dogs whenever the opportunity made itself valid to her every day that drove him crazy.

"I don't see how Ichigo can live like that!" Rangiku gasped in the office, catching her captain's attention.
With the window still needing to be repaired, he could hear Renji speak. "It's not all that bad, really."
"I'm grateful for everything he's done, but he's pushing himself!" She slumped on the couch it sounded.
"You're not one of us, you couldn't understand him." He sighed briefly. "But I missed having him around."
"Now you are just someone to boss around. That was so funny the other day!" The woman laughed.

"Humph," there was a pause within the room to hear sipping. "I stepped out of my boundaries, but we're family, so it's okay to get into trouble every now and then." There was another pause. "Hinamori was the one that needed the most tending to, but I was in no position to help her. But now she has someone that goes above and beyond for her." He half-laughed for the moment. "She doesn't get as many nightmares now since she belongs to a family that will protect her. Although it does pose a threat to me with Rukia."

"So you guys take that entire thing seriously?"

"Well… yeah, it's who we are now. Unless I can beat Kuchiki-taichou, there's no chance in the world that I can try anything with her. Ichigo would throw me right back into place." He grunted when he also began to lean against the couch some. "Rukia… Hinamori… they both want you to join, but the others are wary of another female. Ichigo hasn't given his consent yet—I think he's waiting for actual judgment if you do."

"But it took all of you five years to perfect it!" The busty woman whined unhappily. "I could never—"

"It can take up to three months to learn if you're distracted, but all of us managed it in a month, just like Ichigo." Renji knew that she was interested now. "All you have to do to get in, is to get Ichigo's attention."
She frowned when hearing this. "I don't know, if it took you a month to get it right, then why take all this time to get to where you guys are now? That doesn't make any sense Renji!" Her voice shrilled.
"Hinamori," he answered easily. "She was still traumatized by Hitsugaya-taichou nearly killing her on two occasions that I'm aware of. That's why she's always by alpha's side." He growled. "Stupid bitches…"

"No way, don't tell me you're jealous!"

"Give it time… you'll understand—"
"Renji!" Rukia roared into the office.
The man fell off the couch. "What!"
"Nothing… you shouldn't speak."

"YOU GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK FOR NO REASON?"

With a loud crash, Toushirou knew that his office was being destroyed by the idiots inside it, but it was more important to have contact with Hyourinmaru now. He concentrated for a while to gather the attention of his Zanpakutou as he began to go into his inner world—a brief taste of a foreign reiatsu, and the world shattered before him. What in the world was going on with Hyourinmaru lately, there was no reason why it should be fighting against him like this so suddenly. Something large came into view, and he prepared himself to attack as he watched the reddish-orange wolf come over to sit in front of him.

"It's alright to ask for help, there comes a time when a Zanpakutou will tell you without words, that your motives are wrong." Toushirou stared at the creature cautiously; Ichigo accepted this before getting up from the ground. "Come along, I'll help you with Hyourinmaru. Be aware though, that I can't always be here to help you, Hitsugaya-taichou." With that, Ichigo turned away to walk from the building. "Come."

After seeing this creature get into dozens of fights with other wolves—and occasionally Shinigami that he did not know turned into wolves, he began to follow him to answer his own curiosity. The wolf had never attacked him other than verbally the first time they met, but it was made up for when watching the beast play with the childhood friend that he held dearly to his soul. Their long walk led to a very large field of grass where many students would train to become a Shinigami—suddenly, the wolf snuck around and stole the Zanpakutou off his back before sitting down.

"You bastard—!"

"Sit down," Ichigo demanded, placing the Zanpakutou on the ground. "If anything you're only a danger to yourself and those you protect." He lied down with his front paws on the sheath, and the other sat as if invited to a tea party. "Get comfortable in a meditation stance, and relax. Or else you'll never learn the true potential of Hyourinmaru." His head went to the ground as the captain reluctantly obeyed, for power.

"How would you know anything about Zanpakutou?" Toushirou eyed him. "That, and of Hyourinmaru."
"I know plenty for my age." He looked at him softly. "And I know you quite well, Hitsugaya-taichou."
As expected, this unnerved the child prodigy to no end as he snapped bitterly. "You know nothing."
"Yet at the rate you're going, you'll end up like Kusaka, is that what you want for Hinamori-fukutaichou?"

Toushirou froze stiffly.

"Do you know who I am?" Instead of receiving an answer, Toushirou went to a meditative state quietly. Ichigo eventually got up to circle around him slowly. "You must focus on yourself, and the attributes that will not allow you succeed in becoming a better protector." Toushirou took in a deep breath, trying to ignore his jabbering. "You have to let Aizen go—the hatred you have for him is wasted, it blinds you to what is more important." He lied down behind him while the captain scrunched his face. "Hating a man as much as you do does not help the ones around you. It can cost them their lives, just like within that war."

Fed up, Toushirou stood up from the ground and glared at the large creature. "Enough! Tell me how—!"

Ichigo lunged at him fast and hard, knocking the captain on his back against the grassy field, fangs bared in his face warningly. The captain was taken aback by the sudden aggression, but he deserved it nonetheless for giving up on his meditation. Out of nowhere, Momo hurried over to the scenery where it appeared that Ichigo was going to have lunch after mauling the other male's face.

"Wait, please!" She grabbed onto his fur as she leaned into his shoulder. "I'm sorry that he's not listening to you! You know he doesn't mean it!" Momo began to cry. "I know he's not family, but please leave him!"
"You better back off for your own good, Hinamori," Renji began snarling with a flickering tail as he slowly approached the group. "You have no right requesting any favors from our alpha, and you know this."
"I know, but Shirou-chan doesn't understand the rules! The rules don't even apply to—!" Momo was interrupted as Rukia trotted over with ears folded back and sharp hues on the other female. "W-Wait."
"Are you turning your back on us now?" A raven-coated male trotted next to another reddish-brown male that he came with. "You haven't needed to make the decision until now. What's more important to you."
"Easy there… you need to remember who you're talking to, both of you are at the bottom of the chain." The one that came with the raven male warned, also agreeing with him. "You have to choose, now."

She thought on it, "…can't Shirou-chan join us? We've been considering Rangiku-san!"

"We don't need any more males." Byakuya stated as he joined the pack. "What will it be for you?"

"B-But Shirou-can—"

Renji could not take it any longer as she kept coming to Toushirou's defense, and charged in with the others quickly joining. Worried about the possibility of them going after her childhood friend, so she had no choice but to transform in front of him to fight back. Toushirou was speechless when he saw the female turn into the very same creature that he had assumed eaten her on the day that started trouble. Rukia and Momo fought equally for a brief second others started to gang up on her to show that she had been knocked down completely as their omega. Toushirou tried to get himself out from underneath the large wolf, which he had learned from the beginning… that this one was the alpha.

"Aren't you going to save her?" He yelled at the beast.

Ichigo looked at him, "aren't you?" The other tried to struggle. "She is protecting you, for being foolish."
"Fine, I'll do whatever you want! Now tell them to stop hurting her!" He heard her yelping in pain.
"Do I have your word as taichou, then?" Ichigo had to take his time for status to be learned.
Not having any time to think about it this, he agreed. "Yes! Now stop them please!"

With the agreement made, the pack leader gave a deep howl, causing the others to stop slowly so that they would not get in trouble. Ichigo removed himself from the fallen captain to grab her by the scruff of her neck to throw her on his back before reaching her clothes to pick up. Brown hues turned to the short-tempered male, telling him to take Hyourinmaru and to follow him to the tenth division office. Renji did as he was told while the others scattered off to do other activities that needed their attention now that they had put her in her place. With everyone going their own separate ways, Toushirou hurried to follow the two male wolves that had his childhood friend with them.

Renji growled at the close proximity that the captain was giving Ichigo, who calmed him. "You've done your share." It was all that needed to be said, but he continued a bit more. "You need to control yourself."
"How can you remain so calm after being begged like that? After all the years I've known you, you never let anyone tell you what to do." He snorted unhappily, trying to watch his temper. "She chose it too…"
"You should be a little considerate, you have no one outside the pack that is precious to you." Ichigo stated calmly; as if he were a wise man. "You were like an abandoned pup when you find out about me."
"Hey… I wasn't the only one that missed you!" His fur bristled on his shoulders. "Everyone in Soul Society respects you—" ears perked as the female began to stir quietly. "She's beginning to wake up now."

Ichigo came to a stop before slowly sliding her off his back while putting her clothes down for the moment to give her some attention. He nudged at her face softly as she began to come around very slowly due to the blood loss from the events of not choosing her pack. When she looked up at him and licked his face to greet him, he nudged her to her paws carefully to make sure she could walk on her own. The alpha knew that she had it under control, so he took the Zanpakutou from Renji by wrapping it with the sash around his neck. His attention finally went to Renji, telling him that he was free to go do his daily activities as he stayed with these two a little longer.

With Renji gone, Momo asked. "You must be angry that I chose Shirou-chan over the pack… right…?"
"The choice was yours to make. Have I needed to choose between my pack or family, it would be family."
"Shirou-chan is family to me!" He growled at her for barking in his ear. "I'm sorry—ah, where's Shirou—!"
"Use your nose, Pup, he's right beside you." Ichigo nudged her forth. "We're going to his office to rest."

"But you haven't eaten anything yet, have you?" On cue to her question, his stomach growled. "See?"

"Are you trying to get into more trouble than what you're already in? Come along, I said that we are going to go to his office, do you want to go against that order?" Once more, he nudged her, and she slowly obeyed him by walking forward so he would not force her. "After we rest some at the office for your wounds to settle down, I'll see what I can do about finding a meal to eat, so stop worrying about it."

Toushirou wanted to tell the creature to leave her alone and not order her around, but it was for the best that he stayed out of it. It was no secret that he wanted her to rest, though, he would have preferred if she went to the fourth division to be taken care of. There was an unlikely chance that he could tell the slightly larger—more dominant creature, that he wanted her to be checked on. The captain debated on it long enough to decide that he wanted to keep his head, and to learn how to be more powerful to protect her.

Suddenly, a similar reddish-orange female came towards the male look-a-like; this was obviously none other than Matsumoto Rangiku. She was trotting over as if she was claiming her victory of secretly training to become a wolf during the past month thanks to Rukia. However, there was a problem as she came closer to Ichigo without his consent—to protect her, Momo went in front of him, snarling at her.

"I look so pretty!" Rangiku cheered happily. "Of course, Haineko wanted me to be a cat, I don't—"
"Rangiku-san, I must ask you to back off!" Fangs were visible as a sign that she would attack.
Her head tilted confusedly at the demand. "Why? What did I do, I'm one of you now! I can join—"

It was too late for her as she already reached his limits of a strange beast near him and a pack member; he charged at her in a flash. Too new to the entire wolf thing, he was capable of ripping her to shreds and even killing her without as much as challenge. His fangs sank into the scruff of her neck before shaking her around on the ground as if she were a toy he needed to kill. There was a reason why they had waited so long before Ichigo come back to Soul Society; they had to master being a wolf, and a wolf pack. Now that she was stunned by the attack, he clamped his jaws on her snout, growling fiercely at the newbie…

"Don't go flaunting in front of a pack leader." His jaws squeezed slightly more. "You'll get killed that way." He released her to grab Momo's Shinigami outfit once more, and began leading the way to the office.
Momo came to her side for a brief moment. "When approaching alpha, you have to lick his face and be submissive, or else he'll force you into it." There was a dark growl up ahead, and she hurried after Ichigo.
"Renji didn't tell me that!" Rangiku whined unhappily while getting up to her paws. "Had I known you were going to be such a jerk, I wouldn't have bothered trying to join your stupid pack!" Now she was in trouble.

Ichigo dangerously turned around while dropping the clothing and sliding the Zanpakutou off his neck in order to approach her as a predator would to prey. If she had really wanted to join their pack, she would have been better off making herself seem small and unwanted towards him. His body of fur was flared with his tail up as a warning of his intentions—even though one could see it all over his face expressions.

Toushirou hurried in front of the furious creature. "Wait, please, Matsumoto is just an idiot…" The anger then turned towards him instead. "…please…" he was giving a very apologetic face towards the wolf.

Seeing that look irritated Ichigo for having seen it before. "Consider yourself lucky." He turned away to gather the things once more in order to continue towards the office. "Let's go pup, I'm not waiting." Momo hurried to his side, and he looked to see Toushirou watching his wolfish lieutenant, so he jumped in front of the captain. "You have paperwork to do." His head lowered for him. "Get on so we stop wasting time."

"I'm not going to—" he thought carefully about this quickly; having just asked a favor from the angry beast a second ago, he should return the favor before the other decided to go back on his. "…fine." He got on—

Suddenly there was a loud yelp in the distance.

"RUKIA!" Ichigo roared when hearing her trying to fight something off but losing badly. "Toushirou, hold on tightly!" With that, he dropped the clothing to run with amazing speed with Momo trying to match it. "Go back, you're wounded!" Nonetheless, Momo ignored him and kept up with his pace, so he ignored her.

They jumped over a large building to see a few scavenging Shinigami from the twelfth squad trying to poke and prod at her. He had permission to go after anyone who attacked his pack, and these Shinigami were in big trouble as he attacked one with his fangs. Not long afterward did Momo slam one into the building they leaped over, and two more wolves joined into the massacre of outsiders. None of them was killed, unfortunately, but Unohana Retsu was still going to have a long night dealing with this group. Ichigo watched the others have their fun while he came over to check on the female to see her lying there with blood pooling on the ground…

"Hyourinmaru," Ichigo spoke quietly. "You remember me, don't you." The Zanpakutou began to shake heavily over his shoulder blades as it was still wrapped around his neck. "Then do me this favor and I grant yours in turn." His brown hues began to glow white as the clear sky began to cloud over. "Sit upon the Frozen Heavens…" Thunder clashed above everyone's head and he howled. "Hyourinmaru!"

His fur turned pure white as he dangerously barked once towards the Shinigami as he mentally used the attack desired. Hyourinmaru could manipulate water without trouble, and living creatures possessed water within them. Meaning that every Shinigami in his sight was now being suffocated to death from inside of their own bodies as the pack backed off. Toushirou felt the usual cold reiatsu flowing from the Zanpakutou as it was starting to make this creature's fur an uncomfortable temperature to sit on.

"That is enough," Shigekuni called out. "I will deal with those from the twelfth squad."

"If they attempt it again, it will be their taichou that I kill." Ichigo snarled, dropping the bodies to the ground as his fur returned to normal. "You two, take her to Unohana-taichou. We need to recover."
"You got it." Ikkaku answered, heaving the female on his back with Yumichika's help. "She's heavy…"
"…I heard that…" Rukia growled tiredly as they began to take her to be checked upon. "Jerks…"
"Behave yourselves, all of you. Otherwise I'll be forced to pair all of you for safety in numbers." With that, Ichigo left with Momo walking behind him. "All of you be weary, there is another amongst us."

With that said, they all left, and the three finally made it to the tenth division where the two wolves lied next to one another. The captain went to his afternoon work while often looking up to see the larger beast licking the wounds of the slightly smaller one. Having just learned that the two-now-three female wolves were of the Shinigami that he knew, was unfortunately very unsettling. His assistant—Matsumoto Rangiku, his childhood friend—Hinamori Momo, and a Shinigami that he had worked with before—Kuchiki Rukia, all three were wolves. Speak of the devil as the busty lieutenant came in, clothed, and supposedly ready to drink tea and do some—if any—of her paperwork. Ichigo immediately began his warning snarls as he watched her closely for whatever she might attempt to do, and it scared her a bit.

"Okay! I learned my lesson!" Rangiku became to walk over to give him a hug. "Hi alpha! I—"

Ice shot from the ground, surrounding the two wolves as the spiked forth towards the intruding female, forcing her to back off. When she was ten feet away, the ice evaporated while leaving a cold breeze within the office as he began licking Momo's wounds again. Toushirou looked over his shoulder to see that his Zanpakutou was against the wall; quite the distance away from the two four-legged creatures. Something was going on that he could not exactly explain, and the fact that he could not describe this, worried him.

"Oh come on, Rangiku-san," the tattooed fiend came in, scratching his nape in boredom. "Your instincts alone should tell you not to pester him at a time like this." He came over and patted the lead wolf on the head before checking Momo's wounds. "Guess the pack went a little hard on her." His attention went to Ichigo. "We need to go to the human world, with the pack getting so aggressive, it needs to hunt again."

"I am aware of that," Ichigo continued licking her wounds, "we have two wounded, we have to wait until they recover or else we would have to deal with two energetic ones driving us crazy if we leave them."
"But I'm fine—" Momo was interrupted with a growl.
"I will not come to your aide should you need to be rescued." It was not a lie, she needed to learn that he would not always be there for her, and saying this would help her understand. "The pack can't either."
Renji watched him closely. "I heard about Hyourinmaru."

He chuckled. "My job here is to help Hitsugaya-taichou, and so what better way to show him what kind of potential he could have with Hyourinmaru, if he goes under my training." Ichigo slowly got up with a low growl as he looked towards said Zanpakutou. "But Hyourinmaru's trying to bait me with Toushirou's—"

The captain slammed his fist against the desk before standing up. "Don't call me so casually, Dog!" He was angry that this creature was calling him in the familiar. "There's only one man that can call me that!"
"Why can Kurosaki Ichigo call you so casually, but I—a wolf, cannot?" Ichigo watched him carefully.
"He—" His eyes widened, finding himself taken aback that he was actually going to answer. He started over. "Kurosaki did what the rest of us couldn't, and if he hadn't snapped at us, I wouldn't have known…"

He knew what he was going to say, so he saved him the efforts. "Both of you watch over her no matter what." Ichigo came over to pick up the Zanpakutou carefully with his jaws leaving the office. "Follow me, Hitsugaya-taichou, we will start over on your training. This time, you will not have a fit like some child." It did not surprise him that Toushirou silently obeyed him after listening to the conversation that he was having with the others. When they returned to the fields, they changed course and came along the stream where Kusaka had been killed the first time. "You must not fight amongst yourself." He leaped into the middle of the stream, and a block of ice formed beneath him as he landed, so he sat down. "Join me."

Toushirou leaped over, but landed in the water, and he began to yell. "You told Hyourinmaru not to—"

"No, I did not." As the captain was being drifted towards him, he set down the Zanpakutou around his neck before grabbing the hem of his haori. "Hyourinmaru is trying to teach you a lesson that you must learn." He hopped back onto land to set him down. "You may have been in bankai during that war, but when it came to Aizen that you assumed you were fighting, you and Hyourinmaru did not fight as one." Ichigo placed the Zanpakutou on the ground gently. "Now then, tell me what you did wrong in the war."

The captain knew that this beast knew what had happened, but humored him. "I let my anger get to me."
"Do you hate Aizen Sousuke?" He watched how the other flinched. "What is most important to you now?"
"I need to get stronger to protect Hinamori!" His small form bowed on the ground. "Please, help me!"
"Is protecting her more important than hating Aizen? Is hating Aizen more important than protecting her?"
"Hinamori is the most important thing to me." Toushirou looked up at him pleadingly, desperate now.

"If you can manage to let go of all your hatred, then I will guide you to use Hyourinmaru in a completely different level that can surpass all." Ichigo saw the light in the captain's eyes. "Kurosaki Ichigo is the only one to have managed the final—most dangerous stage of becoming a Shinigami. And you are capable."

To be as strong as that man… Toushirou nodded slowly. "Thank you."