Inner Conflict ― III
Alarms rented the quiet night air. Momo fell out of bed as she rolled over, entangled in her sheets.
"Oh, ow! Jeez, jeez, jeez…"
She jumped and struggled, pitching her blankets off and stripping out of her pajamas in one smooth movement. In another movement she slipped into her Shinigami robes and grabbed her Zanpakatou, running outside. All around her Shinigami were emerging from their houses swords already drawn, to meet the enemy. Momo froze when she saw the streets.
Arrancar. So many Arrancar. None of them seemed overly strong, but in a group they were strong enough. Momo wasted no time drawing her Zanpakatou. How in the world had they gotten here without anyone noticing? Where were the guards? Were they dead? How?
As caught up in her thoughts as she was, she didn't notice the Arrancar sneak up behind her, claws raised.
Schwing!
She heard the blood spill and whirled around, eyes wide. "Focus Momo-san, don't get distracted." Rukia jumped away before Momo could thank her. The brown-haired vice-captain followed her fellow's lead and drew her Zanpakatou, jumping into the fight with her sword raised.
"Die!" Ichigo roared, swinging his Zanpakatou through several Arrancar, slicing their heads cleanly off. He was tired, he was aggravated, he was not in the mood for a fight. The sooner this was over, the better. He was tired enough ― and at the moment selfish enough ― to not really care what was happening anywhere else.
Hitsugaya jumped from roof to roof, slicing through Arrancar as he ran. He had only one thought in mind at the moment: get to Momo. He had assumed, originally, that she would be just outside her house, on the streets, fighting. But she seemed to have drifted away from there.
Damn Hinamori, he cursed, speeding up. Why can't you make anything easy?
Rukia growled under her breath as she hissed, "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki," running her hand across her Zanpakatou. It glowed brightly as it changed, and she swung again. Her eyes darted back and forth, from enemy to enemy. They didn't seem to have a goal. What were they doing? What were they after?
"This is wrong." She murmured as she took out another one. They were like ants. One went down, two more popped up. "Why are they here? This doesn't make sense…"
It was mass destruction, mass chaos. All around them fights ensued. Arrancar and Shinigami alike fell, blood spilling from their wounds like water from a waterfall. It was a disturbing sight.
Ulquoirra surveyed the destruction from a spot high above the battlefield, safe from danger. Aizen-sama hadn't sent him to fight, after all. He'd been sent as recon, to survey, scope out the area. To find the ones Aizen-sama was seeking.
It turned out to be even less difficult then Ulquoirra would have imagined. He found Hinamori Momo first, fighting near a forest. He watched for a few minutes. She was, he supposed, impressive. He wasn't sure, exactly, why Aizen-sama was interested though. There wasn't anything special about her.
He took his eyes off for a minute, and she was surrounded by Arrancar. How had she allowed herself to be snuck up on so easily? Ulquoirra rolled his eyes. Pathetic.
The Shinigami threw her hand out. It was crackling with lightning. Ulquoirra remembered what Aizen-sama had told him ― the girl was a master of Kido. He watched as she took down one, two, three…
Ten Arrancar had been around her. When she was done, there was zero left. Now Ulquoirra was impressed. He took off to find the other one. Kuchiki Rukia.
She was harder to find. She was a small little thing, didn't stand out among the bigger Shinigami around her. But what did stand out was her Zanpakatou. The shine that reverberated, even in the dim moonlight, stood out against the mass of black and white that swarmed below Ulquoirra. Like Hinamori, she was supposed to be exceptional at Kido. Ulquoirra would find that out for himself. He watched her carefully. Unlike Hinamori, Kuchiki liked to move a lot. It was harder to keep track of her then it had been her brown-haired accomplice. She was fast, he'd give her that, but other than that he didn't see any reason in pursuing her much further. Like Hinamori, she was an okay fighter, but not worth trying persuade to their side. But then, like Hinamori, she gave a quick but impressive demonstration of her own Kido skills.
Aizen-sama hadn't been kidding. These two girls, for everything they were, were powerful in their own way. They would be of use to Aizen-sama and his cause. If they could be persuaded. But how to do that…
Momo stared at what remained of her division. She wondered for a moment of a tornado had come through. She might have actually thought that if she hadn't been present for the fight that had lasted until freaking dawn.
"This is absolutely depressing."
Ichigo, who was standing beside her, nodded, looking equally upset. "It's going to take forever to clean this up."
"I wonder how the other divisions faired."
Ichigo was bouncing a little. It was hard to believe, but he was actually bouncing. Obviously anxious about something. His eyes kept darting left and right, as if he was looking for something. Or someone…
"Ichigo ― I mean, Captain Kurosaki―" she had to remember that while they were in the division she had to be formal, "if you want to go and find Vice-Captain Kuchiki, feel free. I'll take care of things here."
Ichigo's leg was jouncing a little as he shook his head. "No, I'll stay here. I'm responsible for the division, I can't leave."
"Jeez, what a mess."
Ichigo and Momo jumped and whirled around. Toushirou was standing behind them, surveying the destruction with raised eyebrow. Ichigo made a face.
"What's up Toushirou?"
The white-haired captain scowled. He could no longer protest to Ichigo using his first name, now that they were the same rank. But he still didn't like it.
"Just checking in. Matsumoto's supervising the clean up at our division."
Ichigo nodded. Momo could have sworn there was a double meaning to Toushirou's words. But what? She shrugged and changed the subject.
"You see, Captain Kurosaki? Captain Hitsugaya isn't worried about staying in his supervision. Go ahead, check on Vice-Captain Kuchiki. I'll handle things―"
Ichigo was gone before Momo could finish her sentence. "…here."
Toushirou rolled his eyes. "The man's so transparent. I'm surprised Kuchiki hasn't figured it out." Momo laughed.
"Love is funny. The two who are actually in love never figure it out."
"That's true." Hitsugaya looked over the fifth division. "Man, you guys got hit hard. Looks like they took out half the building."
"Not our fault we're right in the middle of the fire line."
"That's true." Toushirou sighed, looking over at Momo.
"I'll take care of everything here. Just go and make sure she's all right. Though I'm sure you'd know already if she wasn't."
Toushirou narrowed his eyes suspiciously.. "You're being awfully kind. What's the catch?"
"No catch." Rangiku protested. "Momo-san is my friend. I want her to be okay. I know you do too. Plus if you're there, Ichigo will head off to find Rukia, so I'll know she's all right too. I win both ways in the end, and you and Ichigo get what you both want. See?"
Toushirou rolled his eyes. Why'd Rangiku have to be so annoying? He was willing to take her up on her offer, however…
"So your division's not that bad, then?" Momo's voice snapped Toushirou back to reality. She was watching him curiously.
"What? Oh, yeah, nothing big or bad. Definitely had worse. Lost a small section of the building, that's easy enough to fix though. Mostly knocked over trees and stuff."
Ugh. Why the hell was he babbling? He sounded like some love struck fool. How pathetic.
"This place looks like hell."
Ukitake and Rukia looked over their shoulders. Ichigo was standing behind them, looking around at devastation that was the thirteenth division. And he'd thought his place looked bad…
"Don't you have something better to do then bother us?" Ukitake smiled faintly.
"Now, now Rukia. Be kind to Ichigo, he's a guest in our division after all."
"Ugh." Rukia rolled her eyes, obviously not moved by what Ukitake had said. "He's not a guest, he's annoying."
Ukitake laughed. Ichigo glowered at Rukia, who smirked back at him. "So what can we do for you, Ichigo?"
"Nothing much." Ichigo shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant. "You know, going around, checking out the other divisions. I thought mine topped the disaster area zone, but yours…well, I'd say you win."
"Do we get a medal?" Rukia asked sarcastically. Ichigo, being of childish nature, stuck his tongue out at her. She returned the gesture. Ukitake rolled his eyes at the two of them and carefully snuck away to check out the rest of the division. Rukia and Ichigo glared at each other for almost five minutes before they realized he was gone.
"Where'd Captain Ukitake go?"
Rukia looked around, then made a noise in the back of her throat. "Great. Thanks a lot Captain."
Ichigo smiled at her turned back. She was safe. She could throw around every insult she wanted now, he didn't care, she was safe and that was all that mattered to him.
Momo was safe. Rukia was safe. So then what had the point of the attack been? Why had the Arrancar bothered?
"You have located both of them?"
"Yes sir. Kuchiki Rukia is, as you guessed, the thirteenth division vice-captain. Hinamori Momo is still the fifth division vice-captain. They spend their time either in their divisions or at their homes. They both live in the south end of the Seireitei, both alone. They're easy targets."
Aizen listened to Ulquoirra's report, nodding. Everything he had already guessed. But at least now he had solid locations. He could take them both whenever he wanted.
"Thank you, Ulquoirra. You may go."
Ulquoirra nodded once before leaving. Aizen allowed a small smile cross his face as he watched the Arrancar walk away.
"This is a lot of trouble for a couple of kids." Ichimaru commented idly.
Kids." Aizen smirked a little. "They'd be valuable to have on our side, for more reasons then one."
"Oh?" Ichimaru raised an eyebrow. "You always have something in mind, don't you? Tell me, Aizen-sama, how do you plan on getting to the two of them anyway?"
"That's easy. Kuchiki and Hinamori both have an obvious weakness ― so obvious even they don't realize it."
Ichimaru cocked his head. "And what might that be?"
"What makes you think I'd understand how that psycho's mind works?"
"Well, you know, you're really smart and everything, maybe you would see some angle we missed―"
"He's crazy, what more do you need to know?"
Ichigo sighed. Okay, so asking Ishida Uryu to try and figure out what had happened in Soul Society was a bad idea. But Ichigo was desperate, and a fresh eye sometimes helped…
Not this time though.
"So tell us again." Orihime spoke up. She was sitting on the back of the bench, her chin resting in her hands. "You said…Aizen was after Kuchiki-san and Hinamori-san, right? Do you know why?"
"Not a clue." Ichigo rested his hands behind his head, sighing. "I mean, they're both fairly powerful, but there's stronger Shinigami around, so I don't see why he'd be so interested in them. And at any rate, that doesn't explain this morning's battle. Rukia and Momo are both perfectly safe. Or Momo is, at any rate. Rukia disappeared around noon. Don't worry, she always does that," he added to the panicked look on Orihime's face, "she goes off somewhere to train or something, I don't know what she's doing, exactly. She's all right though."
The small group sighed, looking up towards the sky. Uryu was the first to look down again. He was surveying Ichigo critically. "I see you've been busy."
Ichigo looked down at his captain robes. "Yeah…I just kind of fell into this, the fifth squad captain was just killed on a scouting mission. I was the only one available, so they…threw me into the line-up."
"Well that's just great." Uryu rolled his eyes. "Just one more thing to add to your ego, I suppose."
"Funny." Ichigo scowled.
"Just don't get in over your head, okay? You can't afford to spend another fifteen years in the asylum."
"Oh shut up." Ichigo made a face. People just loved to make fun of him over that, didn't they?
"So what now?" Orihime asked, raising an eyebrow. Ichigo shook his head, sighing.
"I don't know. I guess all any of us can really do now is bind our time and wait. I wish I knew what Aizen was planning though…"
"The butterfly doesn't see the spider until it's too late, does it?" Uryu asked. Ichigo, of course, had no clue what that meant. He decided nodding in agreement was the best course of action to take.
"I'd better get back. I'm supposed to be helping clean up the division."
"Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo stopped, his back turned, and looked over his shoulder at Orihime.
"Yeah? What's up?"
The woman was standing, a concerned look on her face. "Please. Be careful."
He smirked. "Careful is my middle name."
Uryu snorted. "Then you must have two middle names, because not has to be before that."
"Funny. See you guys later."
Author's Note: I had to write Uryu and Orihime in somewhere, didn't I? Anyways, I posted a poll regarding the whole "Rukia+Bankai" thing, go vote please! I got so many mixed reactions I decided I'd let a poll decide. Of course, I might still do it no matter what the poll says. But I do like to take my readers into consideration. Oh (this is something people who didn't want Rukia to have Bankai mentioned), if I do give it to her, it won't be anything flashy or fancy. It'll be simple. Much like Rukia herself. Okay, that's all I've got. Review please! -- Sam