Disclaimer: Bleach and the characters in it are the property of Tite Kubo and Shonen Jump Magazine. This story is not being written for profit or fame, but simply for my personal enjoyment (and hopefully the enjoyment of others).
A happy welcome to Little Bookwyrm, Khiruki, kinelol, boyo77, Scales of nothing, Taeniaea, jetflash, DarkReaver85, and atwistedconundrum. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the ride!
Before I begin, I want to admit that I left you scratching your heads a bit (or worried out of your minds) about what happened to Ichigo. Let's just say this is where I either get a lot of hate or a lot of love for being 'clever'.
Also...I'm not sure how this battle is going to be received. Not that I really skimped or anything, but the first fight against Shrieker was pretty hard to top, so hopefully this one won't disappoint.
And now, on to the story...
Feng Mei Xing smiled as she looked out over the familiar landscape.
Tall, lead-colored hills rose above a winding river of shimmering silver, a sky full of leaden clouds overlooking it all. Here and there along the landscape stands of trees and vines – some silver and steel, some the color gunmetal – formed lush patches of untamed nature.
But much of the scene stretching out before the shinigami had been tamed, meticulously. Many of the hills had been terraced, low gray walls made of metallic stone holding paddies filled with the same silver water that flowed in the river below. A series of low earthen dams and other waterworks along the valley restrained that flow, bringing control to what Mei Xing knew had once been a raging torrent.
It had taken decades to get her inner world this tamed, to bring this much order to what had once been a wild land dominated by chaos, and it required constant upkeep to maintain. Seeing it like this, she couldn't help but feel a little pride in the physical manifestation of her own self-control, and the control she held over her own zanpaktou's spirit.
Her physical body was still in Karakura, resting in a state of meditation inside a safe-house while her mind was here, in what she had been told was her inner world.
Or was it Ginmizu's world...?
She had never been entirely sure which it had been, though by now she had long since ceased to care.
It was her world, tamed by her hand, and now she was using it as she had many times before.
Mei Xing was sitting in a pavilion she had constructed on the side of a hill near one of the paddies – the place that was affording her this marvelous view. There had been a natural spring here, the water flowing through down the side of the hill and joining the river below. Now the waters had been forced into a stone-lined pool that made it easier for the shinigami to commune with her partner.
She had used the river itself for time in the past, but doing it this way gave her the upper hand, as opposed to her zanpaktou.
Ginmizu still liked to test her, see who was the stronger of the two of them...
In the Living World, she knew, her blade's physical form was making its way quietly through the city, much like the 'water' making it's way through the valley she could see below. And through the connection between that material and the 'water' in this world, Mei Xing could see what Ginmizu did.
And right now she could see her cousin standing in some non-descript street in Karakura, frozen like an idiot in front of a Hollow.
Not just any Hollow, of course, but one that she knew from her files had been given a name.
The Shrieker.
Typically Hollows were only given names if they had killed shinigami; it showed they were foes to be reckoned with, and made her kind feel as though it was showing the beasts some form of respect.
This one had killed two, consumed their souls and gained their power, along with whatever nameless people he had also supped on.
So he was dangerous, at least to someone who didn't watch themselves.
Like Shaolin was appearing to do right now...
Shrieker seemed to be holding Shaolin at bay with a tattered backpack, as though it was some kind of magic talisman. Most likely it came from one of the humans she liked so much.
While she hadn't watched her cousin all the time, Mei Xing had done it enough to know the woman had been warned a number of times about this...
She sighed and smiled a little at the display, shaking her head as she prepared to watch the show.
Mei Xing had already noticed Shaolin's 'invitation' to meet; she could guess what the woman wanted to talk about, and she'd probably decide to be nice and listen.
If dear cousin managed to continue existing through the mess she was now in...
The famed Guardian of Karakura...the Living Shinigami...a woman who'd executed who knew how many of Shrieker's kind over the years...
Now standing in front of him...paralyzed...probably terrified at the thought of her beloved whatever-the-boy-was-to-her being harmed...
The sight made the Hollow internally smile.
What made him smile even more was that Shibata brat proving pretty useful this time, even if he didn't mean to be.
He'd made yet another pathetic attempt to run and hide, gone to some kid's school and gotten some girl sick...
A girl whose big brother happened to be really important to the Guardian.
Shrieker could see it now, through his drones' eyes; the idiot fawning over his little sister, wondering what was wrong...
And above it all that bird with a boy's soul stuffed in it, not knowing what he'd done...
At least, he was pretty sure the brat was responsible for the mess, but even if he wasn't...it didn't matter...
The Guardian's own brat was somewhere else, and that had given Shrieker and opportunity he'd been able to take advantage of.
It was the kind of thing he'd done when he was alive, and it was the kind of thing he did now.
Watch and wait, watch and wait...
Watch as the boy focused on what the Hollow assumed were his sisters...as he left his backpack in his room...
Wait until nobody was looking and then have his drones snatch the thing, rough it up a bit, and then...
Present it to the Guardian as though he'd done something to its owner.
Shrieker had seen Hollows like the boy, people who couldn't control their energy; he was dead to anything spiritual happening literally out of sight.
So he wouldn't interfere.
And the Guardian wouldn't know what condition the kid was in, only that he wasn't dead...yet.
Shrieker loved playing this kind of game.
He was just kicking himself for not having thought of it earlier.
At least it would impress the person watching this whole thing...he hoped...
"Shaolin..."
The assassin couldn't hear her friend's words.
Most of her attention was on the school bag in front of her, held in the hands of a monster.
The part of her mind that was still functioning was the only thing that kept her form total despair; she knew if this thing had eaten Ichigo, it'd be ridiculously powerful now. It would also probably be in Hueco Mundo right now, digesting such a large 'meal'.
Still, she had to exert effort to keep herself calm, to keep herself controlled; she had to fight down the panic and despair that tried to take over...
Even if he wasn't dead or consumed, Ichigo could still be in trouble.
Shaolin could just see him unconscious, bound up somewhere, just waiting to be devoured by whatever one of this thing's kind happened to come along...
The fact that this thing was still here after the fight the night before was enough of a shock; Hollows rarely hunted in the same place, especially if they'd run into something that could put up a decent fight.
And her, in an intact but still-damaged gigai...
This was not going to be at all fun.
She tried to keep her expression and voice steady as she stared down the thing in front of her and pointed at the bag.
"Where is he? If you've done anything to him-"
"Shaolin...where is who...?"
The beast seemed to smile a little, even as it lowered the backpack onto the ground. There was a wry look in its eyes.
"You'll do what? I've got your...whatever he is to you...and I'll let him live if you do what I want."
She understood the look now; this encounter was becoming a little cliché.
The ex-shinigami sighed and made her expression more serious; she was still tense, and she knew this wouldn't last much longer.
"You're going to kill him anyway, aren't you?"
The monster nodded.
"Yeah...pretty much, once I'm done with you."
Shaolin made a point to arch an eyebrow.
"Why not go after him, then?"
"Shaolin, are you two talking about Ichigo-san?"
Now the beast smiled again.
"Because you're worth more."
"What...?"
Even though the assassin kept herself from reacting to them, her thoughts echoed Hana's sudden question.
Who in Hueco Mundo...who among the Hollows would know enough about her to want her dead, to see her as a prize or send someone after her?
And then she knew the answer to her own question.
"Grand Fisher sent you, didn't he?"
Shrieker let go of the schoolbag and let his smile widen.
"Maybe... I suppose it'll be all right to tell ya; you aren't going to be around much longer. I guess revenge might be part of it, but there's more going on out there. There's going to be a party, Guardian, and we Hollows are going to own this realm."
"Talk about overblown rhetoric..."
Shaolin wished she could be that confident; Hana hadn't seen things in the Fifties. The Hollows could make good on a threat like that, at least in sheer numbers, though this sounded different.
At the very least it took her mind a little off of Ichigo.
"That's a pretty bold statement."
The monster huffed a little.
"You haven't seen what I've seen lady."
She was sure about that. But right now Shaolin needed to get away from this monster and try to either kill it quickly or find and rescue Ichigo.
She couldn't fail another loved one, and she certainly couldn't fail Masaki or Isshin.
The ex-shinigami reached into her pocket to take out the phone Hana was contained in. She would need to be out of her gigai if...
"Shaolin, you need to know that-"
Before she could continue, the assassin felt something slimy and sticky hit her hand. Then Shrieker stuck out his tongue, an action Shaolin found disgusting
There was a high-pitched hum in the air...
And then the back of her hand exploded.
A sharp note echoed through the air as the bracer she was wearing on her arm absorbed most of the blast's force and heat. Still, the noise and shock was enough to make her jump back in surprise, and a small tendril of smoke came from a hand that had been singed.
At least it hadn't been blown off; she noted the place on her hip where a hole had been torn from her pants and thanked Karl for the long-ago gift.
Then a clatter on the ground made her turn her head to the street and the phone her friend still lay inside of.
A rustle to one side distracted her, and she saw a small, amphibian creature right before its split-open head launched a set of leech-like things at her and-
"Hana...!"
It was either her or the phone, and Shaolin's instinct chose herself; she leaped out of the way of the creatures, and another vibration-induced explosion.
An explosion which was centered around the phone.
Some part of the ex-shinigami was sure her friend was all right; the phone had been designed to be durable, just as Shaolin's gigai was. But what was left of the device was smoking and fragmented from the blast, and she couldn't hear anything coming from her friend.
She looked back at the creature that had done this; he was still smiling, and now Shaolin wanted to wipe that smile from his face.
Wanted to break his face into pieces.
Wanted to send him to Hell...
Her train of thought stopped as she saw him wag a finger to her.
"No cheating, sister. No help from the outside. It's just you and me."
Shaolin latched on to the words as she stood there; Shrieker was right, though she hated to admit it.
Hana was either dead or all right; Ichigo was either going to be dead or all right.
Right now none of that mattered, though it pained her to even think it.
All that mattered was herself and the thing standing in front of her.
She had to survive, and then she'd figure out what to do next. That kind of thinking was what had kept her going this long, when she chose to admit to it.
She tamped down the emotions roiling in her and managed a tired look on her face that she partly felt.
"If it's just you and me, then I can use whatever I have, right?"
Shrieker made a show of thinking about the matter, and then shook his head. He waved his hand, and a small legion of ugly, green amphibian-like things walked up around him.
"Not really, though I guess you can try if you like..."
Shaolin managed a smile and held out her palm; she tried to ignore the strain she could already feel in this body's arms, and focused on the energies gathering in front of her hand.
"Shakkahou!"
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, a massive red fireball shot towards Shrieker.
The Hollow only had time to look on in horror before the flames hit him square in the face, blowing him backwards even as they burned him; his drones scattered to avoid being crushed by their master's bulk.
"Ow...! You bitch, I'm gonna...ow!"
Shaolin didn't stick around to hear the rest, and ran to the remains of her phone, picking it up before running as fast as she could from the site.
As she ran she took a momentary look at the charred device and even tried fiddling with the phone a little, glancing to either side to see if Shrieker or his minions were near. But the phone was broken enough that it would take too much time in the middle of battle to try and crack it open. She cursed herself for letting this happen and then jammed the remains into her other pants pocket.
Whatever Hana's condition, there would be no getting out of the gigai this fight.
Shaolin would have to fight as a human.
Well, she'd had more than enough practice with that in her decades in the Living World...
She kept glancing around...waiting for some more of those things to pop up and start lobbing more explosives at her.
At least she knew something about her enemy – that he liked attacking from a distance, immobilizing his prey, and then going after them when they were to hurt to do anything. And he like ambush and surprise...
He was definitely a coward, although that was something of an oxymoron when talking about most Hollows.
But it meant she'd need to get him out in the open, get close to him...
She stopped for a moment as she realized she was doing exactly what she shouldn't be doing, running away. And then Shaolin started picking up her pace again, concentrating more on the area around her.
Let the fool think she hadn't figured him out yet. Let him let down his guard.
She was sure that would appeal to his ego...
Then she thought to look up, as the Hollow had wings...
There...she saw the monster above her, flapping wings keeping his bulk aloft in defiance of aerodynamics, the ever-present rictus grin leering down at her.
"Better not look at me, missy..."
Shaolin saw something out of the corner of her eye, threw herself down on the ground and rolled under a spray of the leeches from one of Shrieker's drones. She saw the Hollow stick its tongue out and heard the hum, and started running again...
The explosion blew her off her feet, but she scrambled forward and then up, looking around as she did so.
She could feel Shrieker's reiatsu, its foul presence all over this area; it was probably what was driving all the living creatures and people out of the area.
But she felt only relative specks of energy from the drones and the leeches they spat out; she could feel them, but there was enough reiatsu blasting from the Hollow, and enough of the little 'drones' that she had trouble keeping track of it all.
And all it would take would be missing one or two of them...
She took note of that as something to be careful of as she swung into a building, and then stopped for a moment to catch her breath.
Then she began chanting quietly; Shaolin wanted the next spell she used against Shrieker to cause some actual damage.
She noticed another drone, standing near her and just...watching her with those blank, expressionless eyes.
And then another one popped its head into view, and another...and another...
Even as she continued mouthing the words of the chant, and sighed inwardly at the end of her 'break', Shaolin could feel the Shrieker closing in outside.
And something connected.
She threw herself outside as the drones opened their heads and looked up at the monster flying above.
He could see through the drones' eyes.
He could hear what they heard.
One more reason why there was no point in running, no point in trying to hide...only fight.
Which was just fine with her.
She threw her palm at Shrieker as she ended her chant, and the creature's eyes widened as a ball of electricity gathered in her hand...
"Hado #63, Raihoukou!"
The Hollow was already moving out of the way, but it didn't do any good against the bolt of golden lightning that sprang from the crackling orb. The electricity was attracted to the Hollow's body like a living thing – something hunting the hunter.
It arced through the air and then tore a hole through Shrieker's wing; the damage and pain made the limb collapse, and the monster fell from the sky and crashed to the ground with a howl. Almost immediately he began to struggle to get up, to try and get back into a fighting stance with his crippled arm.
She took the opportunity given her and hurled herself towards him, muttering another chant under her breath.
She would finish this, but not before Shrieker told her where Ichigo might be.
And then she would send this Hollow's benighted soul to its deserved place of residence...
Then she heard a splattering sound behind and around her, and saw more leeches around her. They were too far away, though; she'd taken the measure of how powerful the explosives this beast used were.
As the Shrieker's hum sounded in the air again, she figured she was-
The sound from the explosion shattered her concentration.
The spell on her lips died as Shaolin found herself unable to think, unable to do anything except clap her hands over her ears and scream as the pressure wave blew her senses out of whack.
She couldn't hear anything, and didn't care that she had lost her momentum.
She just wanted to pain and disorientation to go away.
And then a mass landed on her, knocking her to the ground and driving the air out of her lungs. She could sense Shrieker bringing his face to the back of her head, and feel his breath on her.
"So...you've been in contact with one of those shinigami, haven't ya? Got a lot of fancy tricks from 'em? No wonder you've been so hard to kill."
Shaolin hoped the monster would keep talking; even now she was beginning to feel the pain fade a little, and her senses were beginning to coming back.
If she could just get enough-
The ex-shinigami felt Shrieker land a kick in her back; not hard enough to break anything, but she felt a few ribs begin to crack and hissed at the pain.
She was definitely going to need a new gigai after this.
"No more magic...what are ya gonna do now?"
The ex-shinigami tested her arms, felt they were still free enough to reach her belt. She grabbed hold of what she was looking for, the hilt of the reishi blade, and smiled weakly to herself.
"How about this?"
Shaolin activated the blade and felt its lethal vibration in her hand, its cool blue-white light coloring the asphalt of the road she was pressed against. She flipped the blade in her hand so it pointed to the Hollow and then stabbed upward.
She didn't know what it hit, but it was obviously something painful as Shrieker let out a high pitched scream, and the pressure was suddenly off Shaolin's back.
Her senses had recovered from the earlier shocks by now, and she got up as fast as she could to put a little bit of distance between her and...
The assassin was sent flying again as she felt a massive wing-hand hit her from behind, murderous rage behind the appendage; she landed hard on the sidewalk, and only the knowledge that she needed to get up made her ignore the pain and get back to her feet.
She turned around, and saw that the Shrieker was furious.
"That's it! Now I'm gonna make you feel pain before I kill ya!"
Like he hadn't already done that?
Shaolin could feel every scrape and cut and bruise, could feel that some of the bones in this gigai were broken. And she seriously hoped that it wouldn't transfer into her spiritual body.
If only she'd brought that damned glove...
Well, she had brought the armbands, and they had helped. And she'd brought the reishi blade, too, so she wasn't being a complete idiot.
But she wasn't in good shape, either.
And she didn't even want to think about Ichigo.
She again pushed down the thought of what might have happened to him, or how she'd explain this to his mother's spirit if she ever ran into the woman.
Once again, she reminded herself that she needed to kill this bastard Hollow before he ended her.
As Shrieker roared a challenge, the ex-shinigami readied her weapon and charged him.
Some part of her felt stupid doing this; as she closed the distance, she felt like she was heading into a certain trap. But she already knew she had no choice; this really was the best of a set of bad options.
And she was going to be damned if something like this monster defeated her here.
Shrieker recovered from his roar and stood there, almost daring her to come to him as she continued to get closer.
But she knew what to expect...
She saw a drone leap out from her on the left; she turned and cut the thing in half before it could do anything, leaped out of the way of the leeches, landed on the ground and kept going.
Another two started to approach from the other direction; a quick fireball blew both of them up, and she threw herself in such a way to take advantage of the pressure wave. She let it hit her, rolled with it, and used the momentum to keep going after her target.
She saw his eyes widen now, and he started waving his hand, summoning more of his drones to go after her.
It made her wonder what he'd been in life, and it suddenly hit her...made her feel more confident.
He'd been some sort of low level tough, hadn't he?
Maybe even thought of himself as a serial killer.
Which explained the way he 'fought'; that kind of person hunted other people, and like many hunters she knew, her own kind included, they weren't prepared for – didn't how to deal with – prey that could actually fight back.
It meant she might have the advantage if she could get up in his face.
Which she was about to do...
Before more drones could appear, she came up to Shrieker, smiled in his face and prepared to strike with the blade.
He swung at her, and she dodged; another drone emerged from his fur, and she quickly got up and cut the thing in half while it was still on him. The blade went into him, and he threw himself back with a cry of pain.
"That was for my friend..."
Shaolin knew he couldn't hear her over his own screaming, but she didn't care.
She was going to kill this bastard for sure this time.
As he staggered back from the wound, Shaolin ran around him to one side and jumped, twirling her body and extending her leg in a kick that had the full weight of her body behind it.
The kick connected and, even though he had much more mass than her, the force of the kick threw him to one side and into a heap next to a sidewalk.
She landed, ran forward, and then jumped and landed with another kick, driving him down into ground hard enough to dent the asphalt and concrete under him and send the sound of bone cracking through the area.
Some part of the assassin's mind felt bad about the collateral damage being done to the area, but it couldn't be helped. At least there were no other people around.
The assassin brought her blade up, swung it down in an arc to take his head.
But another drone jumped at her face, distracting her, and Shrieker hurled his wing-arm at her again.
She had to back up, cutting the drone apart and spilling its contents all over the road.
It was enough for the Hollow to back up again and scramble to his feet.
Shaolin ran around where the the leeches had fallen and punched at Shrieker's face.
He dodged, and the ex-shinigami quickly followed with a kick between the legs while he was again distracted.
But then he backed up before the limb connected, and then grabbed it hard.
The monster yanked, and Shaolin lost her balance, even as Shrieker pulled hard, hauled her up into the air by her leg and then spun around. As he finished the circle, he let go of her and the ex-shinigami went sailing through the air.
A crack went through the air as she slammed into and then bent a light-pole nearly to the sidewalk, and then tumbled to the ground in a heap.
The pain was excruciating, and she tried to scream but couldn't; she could barely hear the laughter of the monster as he made his way towards her.
And then she struggled to her feet, not sure whether to praise or curse her kind's durability. If she'd been human, she knew that would have been the end of her.
She looked around for the reishi blade, and found it gone. Not surprising, since she'd probably lost it during her 'flight' and it would have deactivated and be nothing but a small piece of metal now.
If she found it, good...but...
Through the pain, all that mattered now was survival...
She had to keep going now matter what.
If only to protect her friends and loved ones...
From things like the Shrieker, who was walking towards her now, a smile on his face. She noticed that he had a little bit of a limp; she'd damaged him, but he'd likely heal fairly quickly.
She had to ignore the pain she felt through her body.
Had to ignore people she may have lost.
Had to keep her mind clear.
Shaolin knew, as the creature in front of her set himself up for anther attack, that she had to win this fight.
To protect people like Ichigo...and Tatsuki...
Tatsuki's emotional mix as she made her way through the streets of Karakura was weird.
On the one hand she knew that a dangerous monster was after Feng-sensei – one that had scared Rukia, someone who supposedly knew what she were doing.
On the other, Tatsuki didn't want to make a public scene, and she wasn't assured of how much time she had, so she might want to not hurry so fast.
She had no idea how long it would take for the monster to lick its wounds and come back; maybe it had already done so, or maybe it would be days...
Tatsuki had absolutely no idea.
So maybe there was some time...
She was hurrying anyway, going as fast as she could without causing too many people to stare at her.
It was bad enough that she was out and about on a school day, in her uniform, for everyone to see...
It almost made Tatsuki want to laugh. Playing hookey or trying to figure out where Ichigo had run off to and dragging him back to school should have been the only thing on her mind right now.
Not worrying about some monster from a horror movie...
She wondered if Ichigo was all right, though he probably was; after all he wasn't completely into this mess as far as she knew, just hanging on the edges.
Tatsuki still wanted to kill him for getting involved in this mess.
And she wanted to hurt Rukia for bragging him into it.
But that could come later.
Feng-sensei was facing a creature she...hell, the woman didn't even know the monster was searching for her, much less what it was capable of.
Tatsuki wasn't upset with Rukia about that, really; these hunters were only human, and people made mistakes, had holes in their knowledge.
She just hoped it wouldn't be fatal this time...
Tatsuki honestly couldn't imagine Sensei being beaten by anyone...even that monster...
But worse than that, she didn't want to imagine if the woman did manage to get herself killed.
Didn't want to think about her view of the world and the people in it being shattered again...
The young martial artist pushed those thoughts out of her mind and continued half running through...
...streets that were suddenly empty.
Tatsuki hadn't noticed it while she was thinking, but now she found she was all alone in the middle of some residential part of the city.
There were no people here...no sounds of animals...not even chirping insects...
The place was quiet, like the street she and Chad had been on the night before...
And then she heard a roar in the distance, and her blood ran cold.
Maybe it wasn't the monster Tatsuki had faced the night before, the one she was trying to warn Sensei about; maybe it was something different. A small part of her mind had a laugh at that one, though, that it might be a different man-eating beast from the one she was expecting.
She stopped and looked around, trying to figure out the exact direction the sound had come from.
Despite her irrational hopes, something told her Sensei would almost certainly be there.
Tatsuki noticed something moving nearby...
Then she saw the frog-like creature, staring at her with evil, though unintelligent eyes; it made her immediately start backing up, and she turned her head around to look for more of them.
It was the monster from the night before, wandering around and probably fighting Sensei at this moment; it had almost certainly been the one to make the roar she'd just heard.
She was too late, and the thought made her heart sink.
For just a moment, as she saw the amphibian in front of her moving and its head splitting open, Tatsuki saw in her mind's eye someone weeping over Sensei's grave site.
And hers.
Then she shook the thought off.
She'd beaten the...Hollow...last night with help.
With sensei's help, Tatsuki knew she could do it again.
Maybe.
But first she'd have to deal with the thing in front of her.
She waited as the amphibian took aim, and then spewed out the leech-things Tatsuki remembered from her earlier encounter. Dodging the spray, she charged and gave a drop kick to the thing which sent it flying into the air.
Turning she saw another one take aim; before it could fire she started running.
No use giving these things a stationary target.
And Tatsuki had to make it to Sensei as fast as she could.
If she could just survive what was probably going to be a gauntlet...
She saw another one of the little creatures on the side of the road, spraying the contents of its otherwise empty head at her; she leaped a little to the side, in time for one of the leeches to hit one of its kind that had been following her from behind and detonate.
The ground shook a little with the resultant explosion.
Tatsuki just kept running, turning around one corner and dodging when another pair of the things shot more projectiles at her. She ran at them, kicked them aside, and then continued on, around yet another corner to put something solid between her and them.
She didn't know how many of them there were, but she assumed the answer was 'however many the monster wants to make'.
The idea scared her, and so she focused less on the path in front of her and more on not getting blown up.
She passed another creature, and then another, just blasting past them and bobbing and weaving out of the way when they tried to hit her from behind.
The fact she did so seemed strange, like she could feel these things just a little, like she had some sort of sixth sense.
Some idle part of her mind wondered what was going on, if it had anything to do with the night before, or with the time at Orihime's apartment...whatever happened there...
Or maybe it had to do with Sensei...
Whatever it was, she decided to table the thoughts; she turned another corner and found the place she knew the roar had come from.
And entered a war zone.
Pavement had been broken in places, lawn and shrubbery torn up out of the ground and strewn all over the place, divider walls broken into. In the distance she saw a streetlamp bent over like a plastic straw.
And all over the place she could smell ozone and burnt asphalt, concrete, and...she didn't want to know what kind of organic matter.
The sight made Tatsuki wonder if she really wanted to do this.
And then she saw it.
The monster she'd fought the night before.
Now it was here in bright daylight, and it looked even more hideous and repulsive than it had before. And she could feel the darkness flowing from that thing, could feel her spine tingling at the idea she was in the same area with such a creature.
It was wounded, the brunette could see, and its attention was mercifully turned somewhere else, though her relief vanished when she saw where the monster was looking.
Tatsuki's heart skipped a beat as she saw her sensei, and the condition the woman was in.
Her clothes were ragged, torn, charred...just about any kind of damage one could think of inflicting in a fight had been done to Feng-sensei's clothes. And the woman herself was bleeding from several places, including some down the side of her face. She was standing, but there was grimace of pain in her features and she was holding herself a little stiffly.
It took Tatsuki a moment to calm down at the sight, and then another moment to squash the insane idea that Sensei was doing well against that thing.
Maybe she was, but the monster was still standing, and it didn't look anywhere nearly as badly injured. In fact, she could see some of the monster's wounds closing as she watched.
Sensei might not win this fight; she needed help.
But...could Tatsuki do anything...?
The brunette student just stood there for a moment, wondering what to do.
She knew if she just walked in, she might get in the way, might get Sensei hurt.
But the woman was already in that condition, and...maybe she could distract the thing...
Maybe she could attack it from behind, and Feng-sensei could come at it from the front.
Maybe together they could take this thing down.
It was reckless, but it just might...
And then she saw the monster turn in her direction and smile.
"Thanks, girlie. I thought you'd never get here."
And the world seemed to slow down as Tatsuki looked and saw a bunch of leeches crawling a short distance from her.
She'd just fallen into a trap.
Her mind berated her for doing such a thing, even as she heard her sensei notice her and scream in horror, and she saw a number of the leeches nearby explode...
She'd heard the term 'flash-bang' in the movies, an explosive meant to stun, not kill. And she certainly felt stunned as the pressure wave from the explosion hit her and drove her to her knees.
She tried to keep her eyes open, tried to keep as much of her conscious mind operational as she could.
Tatsuki kept her eyes fixed on the monster, who seemed to be enjoying himself at the sight of her pain.
Bastard...she'd get him...if she could just...
And then she saw several of the little drones that monster had begin to surround her.
She tried to to shake herself conscious, managed to get up and start doing something.
But Tatsuki realized she had no time or ability to dodge these things this time. There were too many, and they had surrounded her on too many angles, and she was still shaken by the earlier explosion.
All she could do was watch as their heads opened up and they launch more of the leech-things at her, too many to count.
She tried to dodge anyway, twisting her body and turning to run in a different direction.
Then she felt a wet slap on her left calf, felt something slimy and alive there...
And fear and revulsion took over at the thought that she was done.
And then more slapping sounds and sensations, some covered by her clothing, others hitting her on her bare skin.
She could feel it all over her body, and she tried to raise her arms to defend herself from the barrage.
But more of the things kept coming, and more leeches came at her, and more and more of them stuck to her.
And then it stopped.
She waited a moment, and then looked at the monster that had sent these things.
It seemed to smile, as much as that bone mask could do such a thing.
Then it stuck the tuning-fork tongue out, and Tatsuki thought to look down at herself.
She was covered in those leech-things.
And their master was about to detonate them.
She looked back up, saw the Hollow wave goodbye to her.
Saw the look of horror on her sensei's face.
Tatsuki didn't want to die...
She wanted to help her teacher, not this...
She wanted to live.
And as she thought the idea, she could feel something shifting in her.
As she heard the tuning-fork going off, she could feel the energy of these things, the foulness of them.
And she felt herself countering it...
She rejected it...rejected her demise...
And then everything went white around her...
And she felt the explosion.
Shaolin's world froze as she watched the ball of fire and smoke engulf Tatsuki.
She couldn't move...couldn't think...
Except for one thought which kept going through her mind.
Not again...
Another friend, another loved one taken from her within sight.
Not again...
Like Masaki, torn apart by another Hollow in front of her own son, a Hollow not unlike the one laughing in front of her.
Again...
Like Sokken, slain by her own kind over a stupid grudge that had nothing to do with him.
As Tatsuki had nothing to do with what Shrieker was after.
Again...
All because she'd been careless and over-confident, like that time almost a century ago...in the mud and rain...
So helpless and foolish when faced with reality...
Again.
Feng Shaolin felt a hole open up in her soul, as though it was in the ground underneath her feet. She seemed to float over it for a moment...
And then she fell in.
Or, more precisely, she let the darkness in that hole well up up from within, like a geyser of oil.
She let it fill her, let it consume part of her for once, as she didn't want to be in control for now...
"All right, now that that's taken care of..."
Shrieker's voice brought a part of Shaolin's mind, the part that was still concerned about events outside of herself, back to the present. It noticed that the Hollow was actually walking to her this time; apparently thinking that the shock of seeing someone she cared about dying had paralyzed his prey completely...
He pointed in the direction of the smoke cloud.
"Now if you're real nice, and let me kill you...I'll let the boy live... For a little while longer..."
Part of her heard those words, wanted to listen to them and do as Shrieker wanted to keep Ichigo safe.
But that part wasn't in control now, and it didn't believe the monster in any case.
The majority of her soul was a cold emptiness and ennui now, and it didn't care about such matters as friends.
And it was surrounded by a shell of rage that wanted only one thing...
To obliterate the creature in front of her.
The ex-shinigami distantly heard a scream, and it took a moment to realize it was hers – an animal scream full of pain and hatred, trying to will its enemy to death.
She also felt her body move, avoiding the swipe the Hollow in front of her made with one of its massive hands. At the same time, one hand moved behind her back...
And, while Shrieker's eyes widened in surprise, she could feel the weight of her zanpaktou as it materialized.
She drew the sword into view in front of her, and now Shrieker stopped completely and stared; a look of mild shock now registered.
"Hey, that's a-"
Before he could finish, Shaolin's outer self let out another cry of rage; this time it was a war cry, and as her cold, inner self watched, the assassin launched herself at the monster.
Shrieker's eyes went wide at the sudden assault, and he reflexively held his hands up to defend himself even as he backed away.
But it wouldn't work...
Shaolin wouldn't let a friend's killer get away this time.
She slashed at the fiend, raised her arm and practically threw the blade at her enemy with all her might as much as tried to merely cut him.
It tore through a wing, cutting the membrane in half and leaving him flightless for the moment.
"Aw, shit-"
She slashed an outstretched arm, and she knew she was smiling like a maniac.
"-what the heck-"
Her sword tore through his furred hide, leaving a trail of red in the brown.
"-has gotten-"
She lopped off a corner of the bone mask; he was too frightened to notice.
"-into you, lady?!"
She screamed another war cry, this time one of exultation at hurting Shrieker, swinging her sword and cutting him again.
And again, and again, and again...
She could feel the blade biting into spiritual flesh each time, the keen edge slicing through what it hit with enough force that it was almost as though there was only air in its path. The wounds tried to close themselves, but she slashed again...and again...and again...
All he could do was quickly stagger back, a horrified look on his face, and every time she saw one wound close she cut there again.
She didn't even think of activating her shikai.
Shaolin was too mad...too maddened to do something like that, even though the cold part of her mind thought it would be a good idea.
It would finish the battle in one blow, especially against an enemy as weak as this one was turning out to be.
But she wanted this...thing to suffer.
She kept advancing, hurling Suzumebachi at Shrieker with abandon, ignoring pain and wounds on her body.
The ex-shinigami didn't care, didn't care anymore if she made it through this battle, if she could only take this thing down with her.
An image of Grand Fisher came to mind, and she could see herself hacking the Hollow down as she tore her blade through Shrieker's wing.
She kept hacking at the thing in front of her, seeing Masaki and Ichigo on the ground, possibly dead, and some part of her realized that Ichigo was probably dead now.
This monster had had more than enough time and reason by now.
And she had probably killed him...
Which made her as much a monster as the thing in front of her.
All the more reason for her to continue hacking away at this thing until it was gone.
To tear him to bits...to leave nothing left but spiritual ash...
Right and left, up and down – there was no reason or rhyme to her swings, just animal fury.
"Come on lady...this is nuts! You're nuts!"
Shrieker's eyes were wide with terror as he kept stumbling, and trying his best to back up, get some distance, do anything other than get hacked away at.
And then he fell onto the ground, onto his back.
Now his eyes went really wide, and he held his 'hands' before him in supplication.
He was helpless now, Shaolin could see it, and she took her chance.
She grabbed the hilt of her blade with both hands, raised it above her head as though she were going to sacrifice this Hollow on an altar, and then hurled Suzumebachi down towards the thing's chest.
And then she saw it smile.
Shrieker opened its arms wide, pushed hard with its legs, and let its outstretched wings carry it a few meters backward from Shaolin's strike. Her zanpaktou found only asphalt to bite into, driving halfway into the ground from the force of the blow.
The rage-filled part of her stopped, stunned, and tried to pull the blade free, but it was stuck. She jerked once...twice...
Her blade came free, and she turned her attention to her target...
Only to find him smiling behind a row of the amphibians, their heads all bowed and split open; in front of them was a row of leeches squirming on the ground.
She had just enough time to realize what he was doing when she head the hum coming from the Hollow's tongue and...
The long wall of explosives blew up in front of her, throwing her back into the air and then onto the ground. She heard the clatter as her zanpaktou went to the street and skidded to the sidewalk.
The shock stopped her, and she could feel the animal rage in her subside some, could feel the two parts of her soul coming back together like warm and cold water mixing a little.
Before she could do anything, Shrieker was on top of her and roaring in her face. His jaw opened wide; it looked like he'd tired of playing with her.
Some part of her remembered her bracers, and held a forearm up for Shrieker to bite on.
He obliged, this teeth tearing through the cloth on her shirt and hitting the metal. Delicate as it was, the metal didn't buckle or bend; it held its shape while a singing sound went through the air and the tracery on the bracer lit up.
The Hollow's expression became horrified as its teeth began to shatter like glass; it was like something from a stupid children's show, only it was really happening to him. He pulled back a little, throwing his hands over his mouth as he did so.
"What was that...?! You-!"
The still-thinking part of her sprang into action, and let her energies flow into her legs. A white nimbus formed around them, and she hauled them up and hurled them at the Hollow's chest in a mighty kick.
Shrieker backed off more, enough to avoid a direct hit and the annihilation that would have come from it. But the kick did graze him enough to blow the creature back off Shaolin and give her some breathing room.
She quickly lowered her legs and got back onto her feet, even as she saw Shrieker struggle to his. The ex-shinigami stumbled to where Suzumebachi was and grabbed it, putting it in front of her even as the Hollow managed to get himself into another fighting stance.
The two of them stood there, panting for breath, pausing between rounds of fighting.
Shaolin could feel the wounds on her gigai, on her body...and now the damage she had inflicted on its legs...she could feel the dirt on her skin, the sweat running down her body...the soreness and pain...
Gods...it was a pain being a mortal...
And her wounds weren't closing like Shrieker's; all he needed to do was wait her out, wear her down...
If he had the brains to realize that fact.
She realized that she was starting to think again. She still felt the rage flowing through her, still felt a disconnect, but she was beginning to come back to reality.
The pain she felt and the fact she hadn't destroyed the thing in front of her were beginning to wear out her emotions.
But that meant she was getting tired.
She needed to end this...now.
The ex-shinigami kept her eyes on her enemy, but at the same time tried to regulate her breathing, tried to calm herself further.
She needed to do that...if she wanted enough connection with her zanpaktou.
She continued to eye the Hollow in front of her...slowed her heartbeat as much as she could...
And then Shaolin could feel it...
The rage dissipating more...
Her mind and body beginning to become whole again...
She could begin to feel Suzumebachi's presence in her...
She felt she was ready, even as she saw more amphibian-things emerging from Shrieker's fur and his wings begin to heal up again.
She held out her zanpaktou in front, the blade level to the ground...
She focused her eyes and will on it...
"Sting all enemies to-"
Something pierced through her hand, knocking Suzumebachi from it and breaking her connection, both physically and spiritually; she distantly heard her blade clank on the asphalt, even as she looked at her now-bleeding hand.
She could feel some of the rage surge through her again...
She needed to kill this thing.
Needed to avenge Tatsuki and Hana and Ichigo and...
How dare they...?!
She looked down on the ground and saw a knife of some sort embedded on the ground. The she turned to look where the knife had come from, barely noticing the look of shock and annoyance on Shrieker's face, or the fact that he was looking at the same spot.
But there was nothing there.
No one...no thing...
Not even the sensation of someone's presence.
But there had to be someone there, judging by her enemy's reaction.
In the distance, she could hear the outrage in Shrieker's voice.
"I didn't need any help, damn it!"
Mei Xing actually caught herself flinching a little at the sudden outburst of activity; in the distance she could half-see one of the terrace walls across the valley crumble in one spot, draining its paddy's contents down the side of the hill.
No matter, she would take care of the damage – and discipline herself and Ginmizu – later.
Far more interesting was what had been happening on the field of battle she was watching.
Her instincts had been right about the young human woman; there was something special about this...Tatsuki person.
Though the Shrieker had thrown a full compliment of explosives against her, the girl was still very much alive. At the very least Mei Xing couldn't see anything that looked like a Chain of Fate, broken or otherwise, so she just assumed the girl was alive.
In fact, the girl looked remarkably undamaged from this distance, though her clothes were fairly badly damaged; the remains of a white nimbus of energy were evaporating right now, likely the source of her survival.
She'd seen something similar a long time before, and the memory made her smile a little...
She was sure a certain traitor to Soul Society would very interested if she ever found out.
And at worst case Mei Xing could tell Kurotsuchi-taichou about this; the woman would certainly be interested in this as part of her 'feud' with Shaolin, if nothing else.
Far more intriguing was what else had just happened.
Shaolin's outburst was unfortunate, but not unexpected; the woman put herself under such strain all the time. She didn't have enough control over herself.
It had given her the upper hand in the fight, though. At least for a little while.
Until someone intervened...
And it was that someone, and the speed with which they reacted, that had shocked Mei Xing and loosened her self-control just a little; she thought only her people could move like that.
The shinigami ninja quickly adjusted the view to get a better look and saw a slender figure in white standing a ways from the battle. It looked like a 'she' – there was just something feminine about the figure that made it through the floor-length cowled cloak it was wearing – who was just...evaluating what was going on.
'She' had been keeping to the shadows, Mei Xing realized, to the extent that even Ginmizu hadn't noticed her due to the distraction of the battle.
The zanpaktou would need to be disciplined, as much as it could be, for that oversight.
But a figure in white...
A Quincy...?
No...a Quincy would have been helping Shaolin kill the Hollow, if she had chosen to get involved at all. Beyond that was the lack of a blue or sliver cross on the outfit; the Quincy loved to prominently display their badge of membership whenever they got the chance.
It had to be a Hollow, likely someone overseeing what Mei Xing had by now realized was a test of Shrieker's skill for some kind of recruitment.
An army? That was mildly interesting...
What truly concerned the shinigami ninja was that only the Shrieker seemed to notice the figure; the heat of battle couldn't account for that now, as the woman in white was standing in what should have been almost plain view.
Mei Xing had the feeling that it was Ginmizu that was allowing her to see this person at all.
There was also the fact that it was civilized enough to wear clothing; along with the human figure and size...
It couldn't be a Vasto Lorde; there wasn't anywhere near enough carnage in the area to attract one of those things, nor was there a 'retinue' of lesser Hollows that would have definitely been in the area.
So what was she seeing...?
Maybe the answer would be provided when Ichigo arrived.
Ginmizu could feel the boy's reiatsu, could feel it getting stronger...which meant he was headed that way.
Mei Xing allowed herself a little room to feel excitement.
She wondered what Shaolin's reaction would be to figuring out what a fool she'd just been.
Shaolin was out of her fit of rage now; at least she was settled enough to curse herself for her loss of control. It hadn't helped her any, and right now the only thing saving her now was whatever had distracted the Shrieker.
Her gigai was damaged again, this time in a more critical area; she tried not to let her legs tremble as she stood.
Gods...she was a mess now, wasn't she?
At least Hiyori or Yoruichi-sama weren't here to see this...
Neither one would let her hear the end of it.
She glanced to the spot Shrieker was looking at again, but still didn't see anything, didn't feel anything; all that was there as far as she could tell was empty air.
But there had to be someone there, unless the Hollow was more insane than most.
Her attention snapped back to her opponent as Shrieker finished his grousing and turned back to look at her, his smile returning.
"Sorry about that. Didn't know I was going to get help from the cheap seats..."
Shaolin didn't answer; she was too tired, too injured at the moment to do anything by try and catch her second wind. Though that was going to be difficult; the only thing that was keeping her from just collapsing in a heap right here was the idea that she didn't want Shrieker to be empowered by her.
That and the fact that she still wanted to avenge Tatsuki.
And Hana...and all the others...
She felt a tear go down her cheek.
And...
No, she could still feel Ichigo's energy, and it filled her with hope.
He was still alive, so maybe she could rescue him, at least.
But it was obvious from his stance – tensing to either fly into the air or leap at her again, his minions beginning to fan out from him to either side of her – that Shrieker had no intention of giving her that chance.
She flex her legs a little, and felt them respond sluggishly, felt a jolt of pain run through them that made her hiss; she couldn't make herself move well enough to do anything now but try and get away. And maybe not even that.
She was done, wasn't she?
And Tatsuki was dead...
And Ichigo.
What was going to happen to him-
"Get away from my obasan, you bastard!"
The ex-shinigami froze in shock as she heard Ichigo's voice coming from a few meters away.
She craned her head, half disbelieving what her ears were telling her.
"Aw hell..."
Shaolin half-noticed that her enemy had also turned to look at the entrant on the field, his drones pausing to await a possible change in their master's plan.
But she couldn't devote much attention to that.
What dominated her eyes was the scene in front of her, and the emotions it was unleashing in her.
There was Kurosaki Ichigo, in his black uniform, massive sword swung over his shoulder. He was pointing at Shrieker in a fashion as dramatic as the look on his face, like some hero come to save the day at the last moment.
Which, she supposed, he was trying to be.
Though some insane part of her mind thought about how the white parakeet perched on his shoulder sort of ruined the heroic effect...
But that was overwhelmed by the relief that her godson was 'alive' and well.
And by the knowledge that she was going to kill him for even being here if they made it out of this in one piece.
Author's Notes: Since I didn't get any complaints about this section's existence, I'll continue it (besides, some of the things in it might give some people ideas...)
I wanted to mention Shrieker's use of his 'drones' (I can't think of another good name for them) as sort of spy cameras. While I don't know if that's canon, I decided to fudge it a little and assume that was the case. The drones have eyes and they are psychically connected to him, so it made sense that he might be able to see out of them. And I also wanted to have him use at least some strategy; the man escaped the attention of the police for a significant amount of time when he was alive, so he can't be a complete idiot. Though I figured one he had his prey where he wanted it, he'd be fairly direct; it sounded more like the methods of the serial killer he claimed to have been.
Also, I did give Shaolin a fairly powerful spell in this chapter, but she's a proficient magic-user in the canon storyline. In this time-line, she knows Tessai (one of the Bleach universe's most powerful sorcerers) quite well, so I feel she probably knows a high-level spell or two.
And responses to the reviews for last chapter...
QueenPersephoneofHades: I hope I didn't disappoint you with this chapter. As you can see, Shrieker was just bluffing his way around Shaolin to get her to do what he wanted. However, Shaolin and Ichigo will be helping each other soon, and her secret will be revealed in the next chapter.
Ability King KK: Thanks for the review! I wanted to do a little bit of patching up with Rukia and Shaolin because, frankly, I hate stories where everyone is fighting all the time; after a while you begin to wonder why these people are staying together (and then you wonder why you're reading it in the first place). And with this chapter I think your concerns about Ichigo have hopefully been answered.
As for Mei Xing and what she's doing...it's not her plans so much as her superiors' plans. And said plans are going to find a very happy home in the mess Rukia, Shaolin and Ichigo have found themselves in.
guest: Thanks for the review; it's always good to hear from new people. Yes, I believe Yoruichi has a dark side, but I also wonder if I could have handled some aspects of this story better (I will admit I've still got a lot to learn about writing a story). But we will be seeing another side to her in a couple of chapters.
Fifth Horseman: Thanks for the review, and I hope you liked this chapter. And as you can see, I used a little of both those ideas you mentioned for Shaolin being backed into a corner. Hopefully my being 'clever' with Shrieker's ruse didn't upset you too much (at least not as much as his intended victim). And I'm glad you like Shaolin's character; it really gratifies me that I'm able to craft a good character for a story.
Taeniaea: Thank you! I hope the story continues to entertain.
jetflash: Thanks for the compliment and the review! And hopefully the fight in this chapter and the next are helping to satisfy you a little.
Anna Riza Kurosaki: Thank you for the review and kind words! Hopefully this chapter entertained you as well as the last one.