The Bird of Hermes is my name; eat my wings to make me tame.
My thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter. The poll is over and the majority of people that voted, want the Bount Arc included so it will be the next one I do, expect major changes though.
Disclaimer: All characters are property of their respective owners, of which I am not.
"Normal speech"
"Kido/Zanpakuto release"
Thoughts
"Alucard/Kurohime"
'Ichigo and Tatsuki's link'
XXX
Chapter 11: Here we go again.
Dawn broke over the town of Karakura and today it couldn't be more unwelcome to students as it signalled the first day back to school. Within the Kurosaki clinic, at the door marked with the number '15', was the slumbering forms of Ichigo and Tatsuki. Ichigo lay on his side, his arms wrapped around Tatsuki's waist, while she was pressed against him, enjoying each other's warmth. The moment was broken by the shrill cry of an alarm clock as Ichigo fumbled to silence the accursed object. Attempting to wrap Tatsuki in his arms once more he was confused as his arms grasped thin air. Cracking his eyes open, he noted she was making her way to the bathroom, clothing and towel in hand. Grumbling to himself, Ichigo tried to sleep for a few more minutes while she was in the shower, but was struck from that path by his father flying in through the open window with a kick, knocking Ichigo out of bed.
As Ichigo slowly rose he fixed a glare at his father. "I thought I told you quite clearly dad, NO WAKING ME UP LIKE THAT," Ichigo roared as he tossed the man with one hand out of the open window, listening with satisfaction at the groan of pain when he hit the ground. He muttered to himself how he preferred staying over at Tatsuki's place rather than his own as he gathered his clothing for the day.
Half an hour later, he and Tatsuki were walking toward the school arms linked. As they entered the grounds, the student body swivelled their heads in the couple's direction, shock the dominant look. While their new eye colour was strange and Ichigo's height was not totally unexpected the fact that the two most unlikely students in the entire school being joined at the hip was too much for them.
Keigo was particularly vocal about it as he charged at Ichigo only to be stopped by a clothesline. Recovering he yelled, "Nooo Ichigo! How could you betray me like this by getting a girlfriend before me?" He continued to wail loud enough that students from other rooms were sticking their heads out at the ruckus.
Her patience wearing thin, Tatsuki lashed out silencing the boy with a chop to the head, before stomping off into their classroom. Sighing at Keigo's prone form Ichigo followed her in to find that she was standing with Chad, Uryu and Orihime around his desk.
"Good Morning Hime!" screamed Chizuru as she engulfed Orihime in a hug from behind. A moment later she was sent flying by a kick from Tatsuki.
"Honestly don't you ever learn? Don't touch her like that," Tatsuki said as she lowered her foot.
The class began and passed by normally until a loud voice broke through their thoughts.
"Where are you Ichigo? Come on out I know you're in there," shouted the voice.
Looking out the window they were surprised when they saw Renji in a gigai outside wearing clothing reminiscent of the 60's. As the class turned to ask Ichigo who the man was, they found that he had disappeared out of the class.
As Renji was about to call out to him again, Ichigo appeared around the corner charging at him. "Hey," he said with a smirk.
"Don't you 'hey' me you fool," Ichigo said as he grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt dragging him into the nearby bushes and throwing him to the ground. "Just what the hell are you doing here Renji?"
"Aww the way you say that it's as if you're not happy to see me," Renji said as he grinned.
"That's not the point, what are you doing here exactly. I had a talk with gramps and it was my understanding that the town would be left to us and a soul reaper would only be dispatched if it was needed," Ichigo queried him.
"Ah well you know, the average hollow here is stronger than normal so they decided to station me here as backup," Renji said while fidgeting.
Ichigo looked doubtful at that, "So let me get this straight, they sent you a lieutenant here to deal with low level hollows." Ichigo cracked an evil grin at that, "So in other words you've been demoted."
Renji fumed at that, "It's not that you idiot, it's the fact that they have two captain class substitutes residing in this town, attracting who knows what in the way of hollows."
"You and I both know that Tatsuki and I supress our powers greatly to the level of just above average humans Renji," Ichigo said as he sighed, "So tell me what is the real reason you're here, I don't want to have to peer into your head you know."
Before Renji could answer, Ichigo's substitute badge began screaming shrilly. Looking to the grounds they watched as a large hollow crashed into the ground making its way to the school.
Seeing Renji struggle to get out of his gigai, Ichigo sighed and used his badge to free himself of his body. The wind rustled as he stood once more in his soul reaper form, casually drawing the Casull and shooting of the hollow's legs before it could climb the building. Walking over to it slowly, he aimed at its head and fired once more, the bullet shattering the mask as it punched through between the eyes. Merging with his body once more he spoke, "You'd best get out of here Renji, unless you have business with me don't come back to my school."
Hours later when they broke for lunch Ichigo and Tatsuki walked to a nearby tree, intent on getting away from all the gossiping students. Leaning back against the tree, they opened their bentos that Yuzu had prepared for them this morning. Any hope of quiet though was dashed when they saw their friends Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Keigo, Mizuiro, Chizuru, Michiru, Ryo and Mahana approaching them. As they sat a random passer-by would assume that Ichigo and Tatsuki were the leaders of their little group as everyone spread out in a semi-circle around them.
Ever the one to pry Mahana asked, "So, how long has this been going on?"
"About a few days after school broke out," Tatsuki sighed, "And that's all you're going to get so drop it."
"Have to say, always thought you two would get together. It was just a matter of time really," Ryo said with her nose still in a book.
"Yeah, it's not like anyone would try and bet against you two," Mizuiro said.
"Ah Hime isn't this moment just precious," Chizuru screamed as she tried to engulf Orihime in a hug once more.
To everyone's surprise though, it wasn't Tatsuki that had stopped her. Holding her in place with a finger to her forehead was Ichigo. His eyes seemed to glow brighter as he stared into her own, "Listen Chizuru, you're really making Orihime uncomfortable. I want you to stop touching her at every moment and only return whatever affection she gives you. Understand?"
As if they weren't shocked enough, Chizuru went on to nod and sit down and finish her lunch normally.
"Good girl," Ichigo said with a smirk.
Trying to come up with some sort of rational reason for Chizuru to actually listen to Ichigo, most of them just figured the combined team of Ichigo and Tatsuki had made her choose self-preservation over lust. The rest of the day passed without incident and Ichigo and Tatsuki made their way to her home. Greeting Tatsuki's parents the pair disappeared up to her room to finish their homework.
"Hey Ichigo, what exactly did you do to Chizuru?" Tatsuki asked as she looked up from where she sat at her desk.
Pausing in the book he was reading on her bed Ichigo looked at her, "I merely implanted a suggestion to make her stop. It won't change who she is, just make her more controllable around Orihime."
"I see," Tatsuki said as she stood up, "Thank you then." She leaned down to kiss his cheek before heading out the door to grab their dinner. Hours later after they had retired for the evening, Ichigo felt a presence enter the room; on closer inspection he realised the reiatsu belonged to Renji.
Not bothering to open his eyes or free himself from Tatsuki's embrace he spoke, "This had better be good Renji, you're disturbing my dreams here."
"Yeah well we've got work to do," Renji said.
"Can't you deal with it yourself, I mean you're a fucking lieutenant remember," Ichigo grumbled.
"That's not the point," Renji said in exasperation, "It's the strange feel of the reiatsu and from what we can pinpoint it's near Orihime's place."
While she had been patient enough to let Ichigo handle getting rid of Renji, this new piece of information caused Tatsuki to shoot up out of bed, colliding headfirst with Renji. Ignoring the pain she grabbed him yelling, "Why didn't you say that in the first place idiot." Not pausing to hear his answer she grabbed her badge and freed her soul form from her body rushing out the open window.
"Now look what you went and did, she's going to be hysterical until we figure out what's going on now," Ichigo said as he reached for his own badge freeing his soul. "Come on we need to catch up with her," he said as he grabbed the back of Renji's uniform dragging him off.
XXX
Tatsuki was speeding through the air after tapping into her aspect of speed, the sole thought on her mind being to keep Orihime safe. Arriving at her friend's home, she was shocked at the demonic-like portal that was outside. She had no time to ponder it though as she saw Orihime being dragged toward it. Not pausing to think about the consequences she leaped after her latching their arms together at the last second. As she tried to fight the pull of the portal it was in vain as it swallowed the both of them. Ichigo, Renji, Chad and Uryu had just arrived to witness the scene before they disappeared. Charging at the gate in desperation, Ichigo was devastated as it disappeared. The others watched apprehensively as he stood there in mid-air unmoving. Ichigo calmed down and began trying to trace their reiatsu for their location; he found though only the trace around him in the air. Dreading what he would find, he tentatively reached across the mental link he shared with Tatsuki. His sorrow and rage returned tenfold as he felt nothing from it. His reiatsu billowed about him and he let loose a scream of rage that sent shivers down the spiritually aware beings in Karakura town.
Sitting in his shop with the three mod souls and Yoruichi, Kisuke felt a twinge of dread.
"Your game just got even more dangerous Kisuke," Yoruichi said her eyes boring into the shopkeeper.
Kisuke gulped at the thought of what Ichigo would do now, "You must be incredibly careful now Ririn, you were not supposed to take Tatsuki too, for she would be the balm to soothe Ichigo through these tests. I fear now that he will be out for blood for this."
The young girl with blonde hair looked Kisuke in the eye and put on a fake smile, "I'm sure that we'll be able to stay out of harm's way Urahara-san, I mean we've planned out the games well enough."
"Just be careful out there, do not underestimate him no matter what you may think of him," Kisuke said as he hid behind his fan.
XXX
The next morning found Ichigo in a foul mood as he walked around school. Whoever had done this had erased everyone's memories of Orihime and Tatsuki similarly to the way everyone forgot about Rukia, meaning that it was either a soul reaper or other spiritual being. He had spent the remainder of last night searching Karakura town for any hint of them before giving up and returning home for some rest.
"Look Kurosaki," Ishida spoke to him during lunch, "the best thing we can do now is search for clues as to their disappearance and the best place to do that is at the start, Orihime's house."
Nodding his agreement, the group of Ichigo, Uryu, Renji and Chad made their way there after school. Before Uryu could offer to pick the lock, Ichigo had sent a tendril of reiatsu into the lock and shifted it to open. Entering her home they found that two cups of tea had been placed on the table meaning that whoever had visited Orihime last night was trusted enough to be let in. As they searched for more clues Renji's soul phone began to ring.
"Hello," he said answering it.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" spoke the voice from the other end of the line. Ichigo and the others crowded around the phone so that they could listen in. "I have both Onee-chan's with me."
Ichigo grabbed the phone from Renji at this point. "What do you want?" he asked in a cold emotionless tone.
"Aww that's no fun, you're supposed to be all demanding about me returning them to you," the voice whined at him. Thinking about it he thought it sounded like a young girl.
"Like I said, what do you want?" Ichigo said gritting his teeth in frustration.
"Fine then, we're going to play a game, you win I return them to you, you lose well let's just say it won't be pleasant for them. Your first task is to go to Icha Park, you have three minutes," Ririn said hanging up the phone.
Tossing it to Renji, Ichigo charged out the door, easily outstripping the others for pace as they ran, arriving at the park to find it was empty. Hearing the payphone ring they rushed over to it.
"Hello," Ichigo said into the receiver.
"Well done, you passed the first round," Ririn said with glee.
"What now?" Ichigo asked.
"Oh come on can't you at least try to play the desperate hero?" Ririn said with a sigh. "The next checkpoint is the Sanjoumen no Shoumengai's Super E-Mart you have three minutes," she said hanging up again.
Ichigo growled in frustration as they had to run again, this time they almost failed as a man picked up the phone. Before he could say anything he was scared off by the look on Ichigo's face. "This is getting old, what's next?" Ichigo said failing to disguise the venom in his tone.
"Sorry you failed, both Onee-chan are mine to do with as I please now," Ririn said.
"Now you listen here," Ichigo tried to say but the phone was put down. Slamming the receiver back on the phone, he punched the wall next to it in anger causing his knuckles to bleed.
"Calm down Kurosaki, we're not going to be able to think of a plan if you're all worked up," Uryu said trying to calm down the destructive teen.
Before he could retort, the phone rang once more. "What?" Ichigo growled into it.
"Geez so angry, I just called to say I was kidding. The last checkpoint is at the Urahara shop, you have three minutes." Ichigo's temper flared higher now, as they charged off to the shop.
Ururu and Jinta were currently sweeping the outside when they heard the group charging at them.
"The phone, NOW!" Ichigo said in a tone that allowed for no arguing. The kids shivered seeing the look of anger on his face; they still clearly remembered his first time training at the shop.
"Ah Kurosaki-san, what can I do for you?" Kisuke spoke, freeing the kids from the smouldering look in Ichigo's eyes.
"Your phone Urahara-san, where is it?" Ichigo said icily.
"Ah I have a phone at the back, you're free to use it if you want," Kisuke said with a gesture. The group charged in as they heard the phone begin to ring.
"Hello," Ichigo said as he answered it.
"Wow, I honestly didn't think you'd make it, well done," Ririn said giggling.
"Enough of your petty games, we got here on time now return the girls," Ichigo said.
"Ah okay then, go to Orihime's house tonight at 8pm if you want them back," Ririn said still giggling before hanging up.
As Ichigo placed the phone down, he looked at Kisuke, "Urahara-san, this isn't exactly a normal shop, so exactly how many people have the number to this store?"
"Ah well not many people at all Kurosaki-san, only spiritually aware beings should have it," Kisuke said with a glint in his eyes as he hid behind his fan. He was shaking inside; worried that Ichigo would look into his mind and make the connection. He was relieved when Ichigo spoke again.
"So we're dealing with people like us, I had wondered who they really were. Considering what we've seen from them so far I think we can rest assured that they are not to be taken lightly nor given any mercy," Ichigo said as he stood up.
Kisuke looked worried at that statement. "Kurosaki-san, what exactly are you planning?" he queried.
Ichigo fixed him with a glare, "What do you think Urahara? I'm going there tonight at 8pm and dealing with this obstacle." Turning to the door he spoke again, "I want you to find out everything you can about them Urahara, don't disappoint me." He left without a backward glance at them. The others followed shortly after him realising that their friend was not in the most agreeable of moods.
Kisuke pinched the bridge of his nose, fearing slightly for the game the mod souls were playing and whether they would know where to toe the line.
XXX
At 7:55 pm Ichigo and Renji appeared in their soul forms with Chad and Ishida. As they waited, at 8pm exactly a golden glow shone through the windows of Orihime's home. Rushing up to it they were about to break open the door when it swung open revealing Tatsuki. Renji, Chad and Uryu let out a sigh of relief at the thought that maybe Ichigo would calm down slightly now. They were shocked however when Ichigo punched her in the face, knocking her against the wall.
"Ichigo" "Kurosaki" they shouted at him. They fell silent though when he fixed them a glare with his monster form.
Turning back to face Tatsuki, he saw that she had a broken lip and bruised cheek. "You have 10 seconds to tell me why you're here impersonating Tatsuki," he said with a growl.
Tatsuki fixed him with a confused look, "Impersonating? Ichigo what are you talking about?"
The next moment he had her pinned against the wall by her neck, "Last warning, tell me where they are now before I lose my patience."
"Kurosaki have you gone mad," shouted Uryu, "think about what you're doing."
Turning to glare at him Ichigo shouted, "Would you just think about it too, concentrate on her reiatsu and tell me that you think it's her."
Tatsuki seemed shocked by this, "So you can discern reiatsu, we didn't think that was true. I'm afraid though it's time for us to leave then." Before their eyes Tatsuki morphed into a bespectacled man with two tone hair, top hat and multi-coloured suit. The next moment Chad cried out from behind them, looking back at his friend Ichigo saw another man in a fur coat with a mask on his face pinning him to the ground.
Taking advantage of the lapse in concentration, the strange man punched Ichigo in the gut, breaking Ichigo's hold on him and forcing him back. "Allow me to introduce ourselves, I am Kurodo and my companion behind you is Noba, a pleasure to meet you," the man with glasses said.
Ichigo tried to charge them once more, but they vanished with Chad. Looking out the window, Ichigo looked on as the same gate swallowed Chad like it had Tatsuki and Orihime. Sitting on top of the gate he saw a young blonde haired girl with a pink fur coat, black cape and red boots.
"Good evening, my names Ririn, a pleasure to meet you at last," she said staring down at him.
"What did you do with Chad, furthermore what are you doing with Tatsuki and Orihime," Ichigo asked in a low voice.
Ririn giggled at him, "It's all a game after all, and you have to figure it out for yourself."
Losing his temper Ichigo drew both pistols and fired; the rounds though struck nothing as the three vanished into thin air. Gritting his teeth, he holstered his weapons and walked off to Kisuke's shop.
XXX
Kisuke could feel the anger rolling off in waves from the substitute soul reaper as he approached the shop. With him following at a discreet distance were Renji and Uryu. Sighing to himself he prepared to deflect the young teen as best he could.
The sliding door slammed open and Ichigo entered, his very presence causing the light's to flicker and go out, causing them to sit in darkness. As he sat down his red eyes burning with rage he looked at Kisuke, "Well Urahara, what can you tell me about the things we're dealing with."
Kisuke quailed under Ichigo's gaze and began as Renji and Uryu sat down, "Um from what I was able to gather from the conversation I recorded with the kidnapper, I can say that they are not a human or soul reaper. I'm afraid I don't know much more than that." Ichigo closed his eyes releasing the shopkeeper from his gaze.
"That's less than what I hoped for; when we encountered them I noticed that they do not possess any type of reiatsu I'm familiar with. All we know now is that they have three hostages and are exceedingly annoying," Ichigo said without opening his eyes.
The phone rang breaking them from their discussion.
Kisuke reached to answer it, "Hello, this is the Urahara shop, how may I help you?" He heard Ririn giggle from the other side of the line and handed the phone to Ichigo, a serious look on his face.
"Hello," Ichigo spoke knowing who it would be.
"It's time to continue the game don't you think. This time we'll be playing at the Karakura museum. Bring everyone and do hurry over now since I don't want to hurt Tatsuki nee-chan," Ririn said with a giggle.
Slamming the phone down, Ichigo rose, his coat billowing around him. He vanished into the darkness much to the surprise of everyone at the table.
"Aren't you going to go after him?" Kisuke asked as he watched Renji and Uryu stay seated shooting nervous glances at each other.
"Urahara-san, can you honestly tell me that you would follow after him as he is right now? You weren't there when he faced off against Kenpachi and even he didn't piss off Ichigo this badly. I would rather stay as far away as possible from him now," Renji said as he looked down the street after the substitute.
"Be that as it may Abarai, we can't stay here since we were told to come as well," Ishida said as he stood up. The pair reluctantly followed after Ichigo as he walked off into the night.
Seeing the pair was out of earshot, Kisuke turned to look at Tessai, "It seems as they've unknowingly crossed the line Tessai-san. We'll need to be on hand to handle things should they get out of control."
XXX
Ichigo was the first to arrive at the museum as he had left first, so he waited with what little patience he had left for the others to arrive. Once they were all gathered they silently entered the museum.
As they stood in the lobby a voice came over the intercom, "Tonight's game is hide-and-seek. You will leave your weapons in the locker against the wall over there and do be quick if you want to see nee-chan again."
Grumbling Ichigo and Renji deposited their weapons in the lockers and the group entered the first room. Immediately they left the area shift as they stared down the corridors seeing the same room repeat itself constantly. Looking back at the way they came, Ichigo saw that it was now also a long corridor of rooms.
"Well this is interesting, it seems as if we've been placed into a maze and we need to escape in order to find them," Uryu said as he looked down each corridor.
"Whatever let's just get this over and done with," Ichigo said as he walked off down the corridor in front of them. They had been walking for almost half an hour before they stopped realising they were going nowhere.
As they paused to gather themselves, Ichigo walked up to the walls of the room. Placing his hand on them, he was able to discern that they had reiatsu flowing through them. "Alucard, just what is going on in here?" he asked his zanpakuto spirit.
"It would seem master that whoever has you trapped here is making use of an illusion to keep you going in circles all night long, while we would construct our reiatsu into a figure, they seem to have constructed walls with theirs. A simple overload should shatter their illusion allowing you to escape." Alucard said from with his mind.
Growing angry with the deceit of it Ichigo shouted, "Enough!" He then went on to infuse his fist with his reiatsu and shatter the wall next to him; it then revealed them to still be in the lobby of the museum.
A startled gasp caused them to raise their heads to the dinosaur skeleton above them. They saw a gaping Ririn who said, "You weren't supposed to come out of it like that, you just went and failed the level now."
"I've had enough of your games," Ichigo yelled and to the amazement of everyone he seemed to dissolve into the air.
Ririn was confused as to what happened to him, but was not given time to dwell on it as he appeared in front of her, his hand wrapped tight around her throat. Looking into his face she cringed at the black sclera and red irises as they bore into her.
"You are going to tell me where you're keeping everyone else, or I start getting violent. You may look like a little girl, but you're not a human or soul reaper and even if you were, you picked the wrong monster to piss off. Now answer me," Ichigo said as he began to tighten his grip on her throat.
"Ririn!" screamed Kurodo, as he and Noba appeared to help her. Fixing them with a glare, he growled revealing his fanged teeth to them. Out of the shadows sprung a pack of hounds, each of them then seized a limb belonging to Kurodo and Noba pinning them in place. Each time they struggled they sunk their teeth deeper into their flesh causing agonising pain.
"You played a dangerous game little girl; I don't need my guns to kill you. I don't need my friends to help me. I don't even need you to talk to find where they are. So tell me, where are they. You don't I let my pets feast and who knows maybe I'll toss you to them too." As if to reinforce his words the hounds bit deeper, causing Kurodo and Noba to scream.
Tears formed in Ririn's eyes as she looked into Ichigo's unwavering ones. Taking her silence as her answer he looked to the hounds, but before he could give the order he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking at the owner of said limb, Ichigo found himself staring at Kisuke, his face bearing an unusually serious look. Confused Ichigo scanned the first layer of his thoughts and felt his rage increase ten-fold. Snarling he proceeded to deliver a vicious backhand to the shopkeeper sending him crashing into a wall.
Kisuke looked up as he saw a shadow fall over him. "Kurosaki-san, allow me to explain," he began only to be silenced once more as Ichigo's boot connected with his face crushing him into the ground.
"I don't want to hear it Urahara, I forgave you when you sent us to the Soul Society to try and fix your mistake, but this…this is unforgiveable," Ichigo said as he still held Ririn by the throat. "You knew what I would do should anything happen to her, you knew the hell I would bring down upon any that dared separate me from her and you continued in spite of that. Do not look to me for leniency this time Urahara. Now tell me, where is she?"
Kisuke tilted his head to the side so that he could speak, "They're back at the shop, fine and well. Well mostly well since we had to sedate Tatsuki to stop her from trying to leave." In hindsight, Kisuke knew that he shouldn't have mentioned that as Ichigo stomped on his head once more. He felt himself dragged up by the back of his collar to stare at Ichigo.
"We're going there now and I swear to god Kisuke that you'd best hope I've calmed down by then," Ichigo said as he gritted his teeth. Dismissing the hounds he grabbed the backs of the two unconscious men and began to flash step back to the shop.
Renji and Uryu looked at each other before rushing off after him.
XXX
And that is the introduction to the Bount arc completed and damn Ichigo is so not pleased with Urahara.
Now for reasons why it's like this and deviated from canon.
Ichigo can detect reiatsu and so the challenge to find the imposter falls away.
In the anime they got their asses handed to them by a pair of mod souls in the final task. No way in hell was that being put in.
I needed to fit Tatsuki in somewhere and ensure that the mod souls were roughed up a bit so why not make them kidnap her and push Ichigo off the deep end.
I couldn't figure out how to get them to record the call, so for the purposes of the story, Kisuke records all calls to his shop for 'security' purposes.
As for why Ichigo's scaring people and acting so violently see point 3.
Kon is not present since Ichigo would be able to make the comparison between him and the three.
That's it for now, so of course next chapter follows the introduction of the Bount and so on. This will arc probably last for a few chapters but nowhere near as long as the first arc.
So review and let me know what you like, loved or hated please.