Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo and Shonen Jump magazine. This story is not being written for profit or fame, but simply out of enjoyment. Reviews and constructive criticism are both welcome (though not necessary), while outright flames will be ignored.
I'd like to thank all of the people who have put this story on their Favorites and Story Alert, as well as those who have kept it there even in my long absence; I do appreciate it.
I haven't responded to reviews for the last chapter since it's been as long as it has since they've been posted. If it's okay with everyone, I'll start PMing people with responses to reviews from now on (so you don't have to wait for the coming of the next chapter).
"Ichigo...you need to help him..."
Karin had been absolutely desperate when Ichigo had found her.
She'd also been nauseous as hell, vomiting her guts up and trying her best to get back to their house or Karakura High to find him.
Ichigo's sister had been going on about some parrot she and Yuzu had found at school, how she'd been feeling some horrible things off the bird.
And then the parrot – Yuuichi – had started talking, telling Ichigo he had to make his way to this street.
That Shaolin's life depended on it.
So now he was standing on one side of some no-name street in the middle of Karakura that had been torn apart just recently, an electric pole at his back as he faced down the ugliest Hollow he'd seen yet.
To one side he could see his obasan, and it pained him a little to see her in this condition; he could tell from the look on her face that she wasn't happy with him seeing her like that.
And likely with him being there at all.
Behind him, Tatsuki was probably in bad shape; he hadn't checked too hard, but seeing as how she was in the middle of an explosion crater he figured it couldn't be good.
One more thing to pay this bastard back on.
He heard Rukia come up behind him; the poor girl had done all she could to keep up, though thankfully she hadn't become winded or anything. He would have hated to cause her, or anyone else on his watch for that matter, any kind of pain.
The 'person' in front of him, though...
He gave a nod to the parrot.
"This him? The bastard who killed your mom?"
Yuuichi nodded himself, a sureness to the motion that contrasted with the nervousness in his eyes.
"He said he'd bring my mom back to life if I could get away from him for three months."
Ichigo closed his eyes and shook his head for a moment, and then gave his full attention back to the monster in front of him.
The Shrieker was standing warily, panting from the exertions Shaolin had probably put the thing through; wounds were beginning to heal already, but Ichigo could see it was a little slow.
It was something he took note of as he pointed his blade at the Hollow.
"Can you do that...? Bring people back to life...?"
Shrieker gained a surprised look on his face that quickly shifted to amusement. Then he shook his head and chuckled a little, even as he backed up a few feet, and then he somehow seemed to raise an eyebrow and smile at Ichigo.
"What do you think, you shinigami brat?"
Ichigo took a moment to look over at Shaolin; she was definitely in bad shape, bad enough to be spending time in the hospital after this, but even so she was trying to get herself into something resembling a fighting stance.
At the same time she noticed him looking at her, the question on his face and shook her head sadly.
"Ichigo...no one can do anything like that, I..."
Ichigo could feel the smirk on his face, and waved Shaolin off.
"Didn't think so. You take a minute, obasan; you look terrible."
He turned back to Shrieker, noticing that some of the...he'd just call them 'drones' and be done with it...were moving around, waiting for him or their master to do something before they acted. He was sure some of them were probably trying to go after him, too, and he started to back away towards the wooden pole behind him.
He glanced again at Yuuichi; the bird was more than a little nervous, maybe even a little guilty, and so Ichigo flashed a little smile to calm him.
He threw another quick glance back at his 'partner'.
"Rukia...you got things covered there?"
He could almost sense the other shinigami nodding her head.
"Yeah, just try and keep the fight from spilling over here too much, okay?"
Ichigo turned his attention back to Shrieker, even as he placed his back to the telephone pole; he could see a few drones out of the corner of his eye.
"Don't worry, I've got this guy covered."
I hope...
Shrieker looked at him with curiosity, even as more wounds were closing up and his breathing became more regular.
Shaolin, meanwhile, gave an impatient glare at Ichigo.
"Ichigo, will you attack him already! He's wounded and-!"
The Hollow let out a mocking laugh as Ichigo rested his back against the pole and continued to keep an eye on everyone else. He noticed the shape...maybe it was another Hollow, maybe a shinigami, he didn't care right now...wasn't moving.
Good. Ichigo hoped he'd only have to deal with these things one at a time, starting with the one in front of him, who had a really arrogant smile on his 'face' right now.
"Yeah, 'Ichigo', come after me! I'm hurt, after all; it'd be easy for someone like you to take me down right now."
Ichigo thought about that for a moment, and then decided to respond with a shake of his head and a smirk.
"Nah, I'll let you heal up a little more."
Shrieker looked a little puzzled, and then Ichigo let a feral smile cross his face.
"It'll mean you don't have an excuse when I kick your ass!"
If this works...
Shaolin was trying her best to get a second wind, trying to pick herself off the pavement and keep from bleeding out on the street.
There were still Shrieker drones on the street, some near her, but they all seemed to have paused to see what their master wanted.
Shaolin noticed Rukia pulling Tatsuki off to one side and internally nodded her approval; she was grateful for at least one less thing to have to worry about.
She was kicking herself for being like this, in a broken gigai and not able to do much.
And she wanted to kick Ichigo for not simply going in and finishing a weakened Hollow.
He wasn't taking the threat seriously, was he?
Or maybe he'd absorbed enough shinigami suicidal impulse from Rukia to want to show how macho he was.
Then she remembered the knife and the fact there was another...someone here.
"Ichigo, there-"
He nodded his head.
"I know. Don't worry, I've got it."
Somehow she doubted that, but she decided to simply trust him for the moment; the body she was in was too damaged for her to do much, and the pain she was getting from it was clouding her mind.
She wasn't sure what to do...
It was clear she wasn't going to be allowed in this fight, and that whoever else was here would have interfered with Ichigo by now if they had a mind to.
So Shaolin was just going to have to sit here and watch the 'show'
...and hope her godson had something up his sleeve.
Ichigo turned his attention to the parrot at his shoulder, even as the drones looked like they were preparing to attack.
"You might want to get out of here for a little while, Yuuichi. Things are going to get ugly-"
He checked himself, glanced at Shrieker, and smirked.
"Make that uglier, and I don't want you to get in the way."
The parrot nodded.
"Okay, mister, and thanks..."
Ichigo flashed a grim smile.
"The name's Ichigo, and you're welcome."
The bird lifted off his shoulder and started to fly off when one of the drones opened its head and started to fire off a few leeches.
Ichigo quickly skewered it with his sword and then glared at the monster in front of him.
"Your fight's with me, you bastard!"
Shrieker had healed fairly well by this point, though it was clear the effort had taken a lot out of him, though he looked like he didn't want to show it.
Instead he smiled at Ichigo and nodded his head.
"So it is, boy..."
A group of drones came up behind Ichigo, and their heads opened up.
It took everything in Shaolin for her not to scream at him; something in her had the opinion that he'd decided to pick this battle, and she didn't want to distract him.
A spray of leeches came out of the drones towards Ichigo; at the same time, Shrieker stuck out his tongue and Shaolin could hear the familiar hum that activated the leeches. A massive explosion enveloped the base of the telephone pole, filling the area with smoke and after a moment she could see the pole begin to lean and the wood in it to crack.
Shrieker started laughing as the pole began to fall over, and Shaolin couldn't help but feel her heart freeze as the monster started to walk towards the location.
The ex-shinigami's shoulders sank as she watched the pole slowly fall over and she began to feel hatred start welling up in her again.
It was her fault this had happened, her fault that she wasn't able to help Ichigo against this thing, her fault-
A loud crack interrupted her thoughts as the pole finally snapped and fell faster; a part of her hoped it would fall on her.
She deserved it.
Then a small 'explosion' occurred in the smoke cloud, and suddenly the pole was shooting horizontally through the air...straight at Shrieker.
"What the-?!"
The look of shock on his face mirrored Shaolin's own as the wooden projectile rammed into him, sent him sailing through the air a dozen or so meters, and then plowed him into the pavement hard enough to dig a short trench through the asphalt.
Shaolin's brain tried to process what was going on as she looked back to where the pole had come from...
And saw Ichigo simply standing there, cutting down a few drones still around his feet.
She could hear Shrieker desperately trying to right himself again.
"You sonofa-!"
Shrieker threw off the pole even as Ichigo ran towards him. Shrieker summons more drones from his body and as he tried to get up he launched them at the shinigami; Ichigo simply cut them down in midair, and then threw himself at his opponent and landed on him with all the force he could muster.
Shaolin could hear the air being driven out of the Hollow and smashing a larger crater into the asphalt. Ichigo pulled back and stood over the stunned Shrieker, pointing his zanpaktou at him.
"I kind of figured you had some kind of explosives or something; this whole place looks like a war zone. And if it was like that, you had to be able to remote control them or something."
Shaolin was able to complete the rest of the logic chain: that meant Ichigo could use the Shrieker's power to 'free up' parts of the environment to use against him.
Like electric poles.
She started feeling a great deal of pride in her godson, and foolishness towards herself for some of her earlier doubts...
Ichigo got off of Shrieker and waited for the Hollow to pick himself back up.
"I had a long talk with Yuuichi on the way here..."
Shrieker rose up and swung one of his bat-like arms at Ichigo.
It was a wild attack, without much thought behind it, and the young man easily rolled to the side. As he came back up, Ichigo swung his blade and sliced Shrieker's massive arm, eliciting a howl of pain from the Hollow.
Ichigo stood back up and continued.
"He told me when you two were alive, that you killed his mom..."
The tone of Ichigo's voice made Shaolin cringe. She didn't have to think about the implications of that information in Ichigo's mind...
Shrieker kicked at Ichigo while a pair of drones sent a spray of leeches at him from the other side; he dodged out of the way as the Hollow stuck out his tongue. To late he realized what was going on, and the explosion blew him back into the crater.
Ichigo backed up and stood beside Shrieker as he waited for the creature to pick itself up. Shrieker was panting heavily, and his wounds weren't healing very well now. Shaolin began to wonder if the monster had reached its limit with regeneration; that would be one good thing.
Even in his poor state, Shrieker looked up at Ichigo with a confident smile.
"Yeah, I killed eight like her. What of it, kid?"
"So you're some kind of serial killer? You like going after defenseless women and kids in the dark?"
Shrieker pointed in the direction Tatsuki had been; thankfully Rukia had managed to drag her away and around a corner.
"You mean like that brat you seemed so concerned about? What's the big-?"
Ichigo smiled again, leaped into the air and threw his weight into Shrieker, driving him into the ground again.
"It means you're a coward."
Shrieker tried to get up again; Ichigo simply kicked him in the gut and then in the back, knocking him into the crater yet again.
The young man had a harsh look on his face.
"It means you can't face a fair fight, against someone who knows where you are and what you can do."
Shrieker panted for a moment, and then tried to crawl away, only for Ichigo to grab him by the fur on his neck. There was fear in the Hollow's eyes, and some part of Shaolin realized that the drones around them had stopped moving.
They seemed to be afraid, too.
"And it means you can't face someone who knows how to fight without holding something over them."
Ichigo looked over to Shaolin and the shinigami felt a great wave of shame flood through her.
She had allowed this to happen, and now her inexperienced godson was having to save her.
And there was still that other...Hollow, Shaolin guessed. It seemed to be waiting; otherwise it would have attacked by now.
She kept her guard up, but still couldn't help looking at the ground while Ichigo continued on.
"Well, I can fight. Maybe not as well as obasan, but I can definitely kick your ass!"
Shaolin looked up and saw that the Shrieker was panting in exhaustion.
"Then why don't you?"
A few more drones came up from behind and tried to attack Ichigo; he jumped out of the way as they launched their leech-bombs, grabbed a few and crushed them in his hand.
But not before the Hollow stuck out his tongue and tried to detonate them out of instinct.
Ichigo rushed Shrieker grabbed his tongue and with a swing of his zanpaktou, cut clean through the appendage. As he pulled back, Ichigo seemed to give his new acquisition a cursory examination before throwing it away, ignoring the scream of pain coming from his opponent.
He looked down at the formerly threatening Hollow, a look of judgment and disgust on his face.
"Because I want you to feel some of what your victims did before I finish you off. I want you to know what it feels like to be afraid..."
"Come on, come on... Please work..."
Tatsuki could distantly hear the voice of Kuchiki Rukia, and some part of her was trying to figure out what the other girl would be doing...wherever they were. She also wondered what the light pulsating sound she could hear was.
It was more soothing, and seemed strangely more important than the sounds of fighting Tatsuki could hear in the background...
Her body felt like it was made of lead, not so much stiff as heavy, and there was just a dull burning through her, like she'd been beaten up bad...though that was lightening up a little bit as the moments passed...
And then some spark in her mind told Tatsuki that she'd been in the middle of an explosion.
The panic that set in galvanized her brain enough for her to try opening her eyes.
She was still a little groggy – it felt like an out of body experience – but she managed it, and found herself squinting from the bright afternoon sunlight as much as from whatever her condition was.
A figure kneeling above her paused, and Tatsuki found herself looking into the very concerned eyes of Rukia.
"You're awake..."
There was something about the way the girl was speaking, as well as the look on her face, that said she was both relieved and amazed that Tatsuki was conscious.
"What...?"
Tatsuki could smell a little smoke, and she could still hear fighting in the distance; far enough away that some part of her felt she was at least a little safer than she had been earlier.
The martial artist wondered if Rukia had dragged her away from the battle.
The battle...
The fight was still going on.
And Feng-sensei was still fighting for her life all alone and-
A raging shout and the clang of steel on...something...galvanized Tatsuki's brain; she recognized that voice though she couldn't quite focus on the words.
Ichigo!?
It sounded like he was kicking ass...but that couldn't be...
And yet something in Tatsuki's heart told her that he was fighting that monster...
Him!?
Tatsuki couldn't help it; she looked what she hoped was daggers at Rukia and seemed to be doing a good job of it as the smaller girl shrunk back a little.
"What?!"
There was a good deal of annoyance mixed in with the defensive tone of the word, but there also seemed to be a good deal of confusion. As if Rukia couldn't figure out what Tatsuki would be mad about.
Tatsuki tried to will herself to talk, and found it surprisingly easy to do once she got started.
"Why are you here? Why aren't you fighting?"
Rukia paused for a moment, glanced in the direction of the fighting, and then seemed to deflate a little as she sighed. There was a look of calm shame on her face that seemed totally out of character for her.
"I...I can't... Not anymore...right now, anyway. After this is over I'll tell you more if you want; I owe you that much."
Before the martial artist could respond, Rukia nervously glanced again in the direction of the battle, and then her face became more determined. She turned her attention back to Tatsuki and...
The smaller girl held her open hands over Tatsuki, palms down, and before she could register what was going on she saw a glowing nimbus of pale blue light begin to surround them.
It confused Tatsuki, but then her brain pieced back together the idea that this girl fought monsters regularly – of course she'd know a...'healing spell' or two. And that in turn explained why she was here and not fighting that thing.
She was more concerned about Tatsuki's life.
"Gods...come on...please work..."
Rukia's face became even more determined, though it didn't look like it was from effort so much as she was worried about anything happening at all.
And then Tatsuki felt it...the cooling sensation from before, making the pain leak out of her body and filling the space with energy. She started feeling even more alert, and as she did so she started trying to move some of her body parts.
Rukia noticed this and shook her head.
"Try not to move too much; it disrupts my concentration."
Tatsuki could understand that, but she also needed to know; she closed her eyes and sighed.
"How bad off am I?"
She felt whole, undamaged, but...she expected to be missing a limb, or maybe some fingers and toes; some part of her mind thought about how expensive reconstructive surgery would be and how she was going to tell her parents and the others at school about this...
"Actually, you're not bad off at all..."
There was appraisal in the voice, but also a measure of disbelief. Tatsuki opened her eyes and saw the same emotions on Rukia's face.
"What do you mean I'm not-"
The transfer student shrugged and pulled her hands away, the glow around them dissipating.
"Just what I said. As far as I can tell, you're physically fine, no real damage to speak of."
She arched an eyebrow.
"Though your clothes aren't in the same condition..."
Tatsuki didn't quite hear that last; she was still trying to process the fact that...
Had she really survived that explosion unscathed?
That was impossible.
And yet she didn't feel dead, and she didn't feel anything missing, though she suddenly realized that she could feel the warm concrete of a sidewalk on her back...
And she could feel the sun itself on bare arms.
Her heart sank a little as she realized her uniform was almost certainly ruined, almost certainly from the explosion. What was she going to-?
Tatsuki found herself smiling. Then she started to giggle a little.
She managed somehow to keep it from turning into full-fledged laughter, but otherwise she couldn't help feeling a little out of her mind.
She was worrying about her clothes when she could have died...
Some part of her just wanted to go home.
Tatsuki managed to get control of herself, even as she saw Rukia looking at her strangely.
"Are...you okay?"
Tatsuki took a moment to get herself under control and nodded.
"Yeah, yeah...just lost it for a moment."
Tatsuki thought for a moment, and then decided that she was actually feeling well enough to try sitting up; Rukia moved to stop her, but then seemed to decide differently. She helped Tatsuki up and propped her a little when it was clear the martial artist wouldn't be denied.
She took a moment to catch her breath; she knew there was a battle going on around her, that others needed help, but she also needed to make sure she was able to do anything other than get in the way.
The two of them were next to a fence; the fighting she still heard was coming from around the bend Rukia must have dragged Tatsuki around.
She looked at the smaller girl.
"What about sensei...Ichigo...?"
Rukia gave a small shrug.
"I don't know. Ichigo's obviously doing a good job, and I'm sure your vaunted sensei isn't done, either."
There was some frustration in Rukia's voice as she spoke; she really did seem to want to be involved in what was going on, rather than standing here.
But there was also another emotion when the girl was speaking about Ichigo.
Pride...satisfaction...?
Did Rukia...?
A rustle of movement nearby caused the two girls to look behind them. On the concrete, Tatsuki could see a couple of the...drone-thingies the monster used.
And the head of one was splitting open...
The sight should have filled Tatsuki with fear, so soon after that explosion.
But right now she felt another emotion.
Maybe it had actually come from her near-death experience, or maybe she was just tired of all this hell and wanted to strike back.
Whatever it was, Tatsuki could feel some sort of anger within her, and some kind of power...
She felt confident, though she had no reason to feel that way.
The creature launched some leeches at her, apparently not questioning the opportunity of a stationary target presenting itself.
Not again...
Her instinct told her to dive out of the way; it was what Rukia was sensibly doing, throwing herself to the concrete.
But for some reason she couldn't understand, Tatsuki ignored that impulse and reached out her hand in front of her. As the leech-like things came within reach, she plucked them out of the air and made a fist.
A part of her brain was screaming at her to let go, but another part – the part Tatsuki was listening to – made her concentrate her will on the things in her hand. Made her feel their energy...the signature...
And then counter it.
The leeches didn't explode. Instead, Tatsuki could feel the things' forms begin to dissolve and crumble, as though they had been made of wet ash which was drying out and losing its cohesion in her...
She wasn't sure what it was.
Her power?
She opened her hand to see that there was indeed ash of some kind, dissolving in a soft white cloud of energy.
Tatsuki stared at it, stunned at the idea but also supremely excited.
Did she actually have superpowers or something?
It would fit with all the craziness she'd been going through so far.
Then she heard another scream...it actually sounded like the Hollow...and Tatsuki decided to worry about it later.
She knew she wasn't really in that good of shape, but she also could feel enough adrenaline in her that she felt she could at least do something.
She couldn't live with herself if what happened to Chad and Orihime happened again.
If she had to stand by while her friends suffered.
Tatsuki turned and started to head towards the corner and the battle and then she felt a hand on her arm.
When she turned, she saw Rukia staring at her with a mixed look of anger and concern.
"What are you doing?! You're in no-!"
The words died down when the smaller girl saw the look on Tatsuki's face.
"I'm going to help my friends. Thank you for helping me."
Rukia looked stunned by the praise; Rukia let go and backed up a little, as though she had seen this sort of thing before. Tatsuki used that as a way to run away from her and towards the sounds of battle.
She couldn't let her friends fight that thing along.
Tatsuki would help this time...somehow.
As long as she wasn't too late.
"C'mon, you bastard. Try and put up a fight, will you?"
Despite his words Shaolin could see that Ichigo wasn't terribly enjoying this. From the look on his face, he did seem to want a real fight, and it didn't look like Shrieker was going to give him one at this point.
It was almost disappointing, until it hit the ex-shinigami that maybe all those years of Isshin attacking his son may have done some good after all...
Shrieker tried again to send more drones after Ichigo; he couldn't detonate them, but he could simply throw them at the young man's face. As he did so he stretched his wings out and started flapping them to get away from the area.
Ichigo, a disgusted look on his face, used his massive zanpaktou like a flyswatter on the drones, knocking enough of them to one side for him to jump into the air after the Hollow. He swung the blade up and over his head, and then brought it down again, and Shrieker fell to the earth once again, this time minus one of his wings.
As the thing scrambled to his feet, Ichigo landed and then calmly started walking to him.
"I bet this is what those people you killed felt like, isn't it?"
Shrieker turned to Ichigo and he looked like he was restraining himself from trying to beg for mercy.
"Yeah, go ahead and beg if you want..."
Ichigo didn't seem to have a look of joy on his face, only the kind one would have at slaying a pest. Shaolin couldn't blame him; she felt the same way about that thing, and about herself...
"I think I'm done with you now..."
Shrieker's eyes went wide at the words and began looking around desperately for something. He didn't seem to find it, and desperation now on his face, got up and began to run.
"You're not gonna get mfff-!"
There was a loud crunching sound, and the Hollow's form froze stiff, and for a moment Shaolin wondered what the hell was going on. She could see a similar look of shock on Ichigo's face, along with some annoyance at the idea that someone or something had stolen his thunder.
The beast staggered back a couple of feet, and then pieces of something hard and white began falling to the pavement.
It took a moment for the ex-shinigami to process that those were pieces of the Hollow's mask. Now that it had moved a little, she noticed a soft white light swirling from from in front of Shrieker.
Whatever it was, it had landed what looked like a fatal blow; Shaolin couldn't see the damage herself, but the fact that the Hollow was suddenly throwing it's hands up to its face in desperation, and the continuing rain of mask pieces on the ground seemed to say he was done for.
"You bitch! You gods-damned bitch! You broke my mask, you-!"
Something twirled around and interrupted him, smashing his wings into his face and then launching him horizontally across the street, right into a pile of drones that had come from the surrounding area to help their master.
Ichigo and Shaolin followed him with their faces, and she figured she had the same look of shock her godson had at the sight. The creature was stunned, and the ex-shinigami could now see that Shrieker's mask was indeed in pieces, hanging together more by faith than anything else.
She looked back in the direction the Hollow had come from and saw...
Tatsuki, stumbling a little as she came out of what had been a roundhouse kick, had what looked like an attempt at a determined look on her face; in truth, she looked as tired as Shaolin felt.
But what caught the ex-shinigami's attention was the wispy nimbus of white energy flowing around her student, as though a could of steam was rising off of Tatsuki's body and into the air.
It couldn't be...
Shaolin had been trying to work on a similar technique for decades...if this even was the same thing, which it couldn't be...
And yet the evidence was standing there right in front of her, even as the white cloud dissipated and Tatsuki slumped a little more.
The girl turned to Shaolin and flashed a weary smile.
"Not bad, huh sensei...?"
Before an answer could be given, Tatsuki's eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed into a heap on the street.
Shaolin could only stare at the sight, as could Ichigo and Rukia. It was as though they had seen some sort of apparition of the gods.
"This ain't happening man!"
The desperate cry returned the assassin's attention, and that of Ichigo back to their enemy. The Hollow had managed to get back on his feet, and he was still flailing his hands at what was left of his mask in some vain instinctual attempt to put it back together.
It wasn't hard for the ex-shinigami to see why; some part of her wondered if he could already feel it...
Shrieker's eyes widened in horror.
"No, no, I ain't goin' there... I ain't...!"
Yes, he could definitely feel it, and so could she...a subtle vibration in the air...the warm, sickly sweet scent of a power not of this world or Soul Society. Dark, yes, but not corrupted like that of a Hollow...something that spoke to a part of her that she tried to forget existed...
She turned to Ichigo, who still had a confused look on his face.
"Ichigo, get back from him. He's done."
The words seemed to snap the monster out of his horror and he turned on her.
"Lady, I ain't done! I'm going to kick your-!"
Before he could finish, the vibration in the air increased and became harsher, the presence of the alien energy stronger. Ichigo's eyes went a little wide and he turned his attention to Shaolin.
"Obasan, what-?"
"Get away from him, NOW!"
Rukia, who was already backing away, took a moment to glance at him and nod.
"Do as she says, Ichigo! You don't want to get caught up in this!"
Even as Shaolin started putting more distance between herself and the Shrieker, she could feel the vibration reaching a crescendo, and she could feel the dark power beginning to fill the space around her.
The ex-shinigami remembered when she'd first felt this, when Yoruichi-sama had forced her to so she would know what it was. And she'd felt it a few times since...
A glance back showed her a massive double-door slowly rise from the ground in behind Shrieker. The frame was an ornate, almost organic red, while the doors were metal with a pair of embracing skeletons embossed on the front. Sealing the doors were a set of black chains with prayer papers attached , all of it shifting in a non-existent breeze.
Shrieker turned around now as he realized what was happening and whatever courage he might have had evaporated. He started shaking his head and backing away himself as the door came to rest.
"No...no...you've got to be kidding me..."
He turned and tried to run away, even as the doors opened to whatever was inside; all Shaolin had ever seen was a darkness, with some kind of light she didn't want to know the source of, and it was no different now.
She could feel a rush of pure energy from the place, hot and malevolent. It wanted to draw her in, tempt her, claim not just her soul but her very essence.
"I ain't going! I ain't going...!"
Shrieker's protests were meaningless against what was coming, and for just a second Shaolin could feel pity for him.
But he had made his choices in life and now he was going to pay for them.
No sooner had the doors to Hell finished opening than something moved beyond them. Shrieker could feel it, and the ex-shinigami could see Rukia and Ichigo turning to watch as well; a figure moved slowly behind the door, as though seeing if it could get out, and a pair of eyes burned in the darkness beyond for a moment.
The massive blade shot out of the gap between the doors so fast that Shaolin had no time to think, much less move. The arm of whatever was back there stuck out a little, brick red and heavily muscled, and then she could begin to hear laughter that chilled her to the bone.
Impaled on the end of the blade was what was left of Shrieker; he looked like a fish that had been speared and then pulled out of the water to be victoriously displayed.
Which was probably what was going on.
Shrieker looked like he wanted to say something; his jaw moved and there was a beseeching look in his eyes.
Then the sword and its 'catch' were pulled back into the darkness behind the doors, the laughter echoing through the air again. Shaolin took a quick look at Rukia and Ichigo and saw both were as horribly fascinated by what they saw as she was.
And she'd seen this happen a couple of times in her existence before.
She couldn't imagine what was going through Ichigo's mind.
With Shrieker's soul safely claimed, the doors made an attempt to open further, but the ropes binding them held and the doors, defeated, slowly closed again.
The edifice stood there for a moment longer, a beachhead of a dark spiritual realm in the land of mortality, and then a crack started running through it.
And then another crack...
Ichigo raised his sword, ready for an attack of some sort, but Shaolin saw Rukia wave him down.
Soon the door and frame were riven through with cracks and tears, as though it was aging centuries in a matter of seconds. And then it began to crumble...slowly at first, and then faster and faster until there was only a pile of rubble on the ground. And then the rubble disintegrated, turning to dust...and then to nothing...
And they were all there, Shaolin and Rukia and Ichigo...
And then Ichigo flew backwards as though he'd been kicked, nearly knocking Rukia to the ground as he did so.
Shaolin's brain tried to process what was going on, and then she felt burning pain in her arms and ankles as she felt something slice through them. She fell to the ground and her blood ran cold as she realized Shrieker's 'partner' had decided to finally enter the battle.
She can only feel more embarrassment and horror as she realized that she Ichigo is going to be on his own for now.
Ichigo staggered a little as he picked himself off the pavement, rubbing his jaw where the odd shape had hit it with her flying kick.
So now it was going to get involve...
He barely had time to protect himself with his outstretched sword when a part of the shape gave an overhand swing. His zanpaktou managed to stop the attack and he kicked himself mentally as he did so.
He shouldn't have gotten distracted by that freaky door earlier; it left him open, and his new opponent had taken full advantage of that and now he was in this mess.
The shape quickly pulled the 'sword' back, swung in it an arc, and then tried to come at him with a sideways strike. Ichigo parried, and then parried again when the...he guessed it was some kind of blade...came at him from the other direction.
He was blocking the blows, keeping them from reaching him, but just barely. The thing's speed was unreal, and its strength was knocking him back further and further, making him move this way and that, dancing to its tune.
Whatever this thing was, it was in control of this fight.
And he could somehow feel it was toying with him.
It made Ichigo so angry, and yet he knew as he parried another overhand that he needed to keep his calm. He was dead for real if he didn't.
"Ichigo, what the hell is going on?!"
He only spared the slightest of glances in Rukia's direction.
"I don't know; there's something or someone-"
Before he could say anything else, the cloud flitted to Rukia and made a slicing motion. She shrieked as a lock of her hair fell to the ground.
"Rukia!"
And then the thing was back, just as quickly as it had moved before; Ichigo only just barely raised his blade to defend himself, and the sharp sound of metal of metal confirmed that he was dealing with a another swords-person.
Then it couldn't be a Hollow, could it? They didn't wield weapons...
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Shaolin turn to Rukia.
"Do you know anything about this. About some kind of invisible Hollow?"
Rukia shook her head in horror; it looked like she was still in shock at the situation, even as she pulled out her little communicator device and frantically punched buttons.
"No, of course not... At least I don't think so..."
Her expression became one of mortification, and Ichigo couldn't blame her; it sucked to not feel like you could help your friends when they needed you. And it was clear Rukia was feeling this now.
And Shaolin, of all people.
An idea came to Ichigo as he thought of that; he blocked another blow, thanking the gods he could at least see this thing enough to be able to not simply stand like an idiot and get sliced to ribbons.
Which was part of the plan; he left an opening in his defense, and thinking for a moment about Yuzu.
This must be what it's like for her when spirits come around...
It wasn't fun, and it made him want to protect people like that all the more.
People who couldn't defend themselves from things like this.
The Hollow...or whatever it was...seemed to take the bait; it dove in at the opening Ichigo left it. He turned at the last minute, swung his blade up for an attack...
...and felt euphoria rush through him as his zanpaktou seemed to connect.
He saw the thing begin to stagger for a moment...
And then it disappeared from his view; he felt fear go down his spine before he felt a blow to the back of his ankle, the pain sending him on one knee.
Then he cried out as he felt a thin blade pierce him in the side.
"Ichigo!"
He could see Shaolin try to make a move to him, but the shape zoomed off to where she was and cut her again.
Both women froze again, with Shaolin clutching at her latest wound, powerless to do anything.
Ichigo stood and waited for the next attack, trying to keep his anger form getting the better of him; he knew this wasn't the Shrieker and he was going to keep his head to survive this one.
The shape came back and again he just barely threw up his zanpaktou in the path of the attack; it backed up a little, and he tries to use the moment to figure out another way to try and beat it.
It seemed to be stronger now, as though it was finally beginning to be serious with him, and he began to notice some notches being taken out of the edge of his sword from where his new opponent's sword had met his own.
But he also noticed some of the blood from Shaolin on the shape's 'blade'; not much, but enough that he could begin to see the attacks better.
He blocked another blow, and that seemed to surprise his opponent, as the shape backed up a little.
Ichigo smiled.
"I wish I knew who you were. You're really good..."
He swung his sword again, missed, and then barely managed to block another attack.
As he held back the blade, he glanced a moment at Shaolin and Rukia.
"But I've got people to protect, and I'm not gonna let you have them. Not while I'm standing, anyway."
He just hoped he could continue to protect them.
Whoever this was, they were clearly a superior quality of opponent to Shrieker...
Shaolin felt the terror rising in her as she watched the fight between Ichigo and...whatever he was dealing with.
It was like some sort of horrible mime act, like Ichigo was practicing by himself, but the sound of spiritual steel clashing dispelled any such thoughts.
It was a nightmare unfolding before her...
And she couldn't do anything.
Her gigai was too damaged at this point; the thing had cut the body's hamstrings, so all she could do was sit there and watch.
She couldn't use flash step, couldn't use her blades...
And she was too exhausted to use any magic.
Ichigo was going to die, wasn't he..."
And then she noticed that Rukia had a fingerless glove on one hand...like the one that had been used on her not long ago.
Ichigo kept swinging his blade back and forth against the thing, keeping it occupied, but she knew he wouldn't be able to hold out for that long.
This enemy required a real shinigami...
Sighing heavily at all the trouble she knew was going to come of this, Shaolin motioned for Rukia to come to her.
It took a moment, but the girl came out of her shock and hurried over, likely to give healing.
Shaolin just waved it away, and then looked at her counterpart meaningfully.
"Kuchiki-hime, I need your help..."
Rukia stopped what she was going to say and looked shocked for a moment, and then something occured to her and her expression became a mixture of outrage, determination and disgust.
She didn't say anything, only nodded and then forcefully pushed on Shaolin's forehead.
A wave of relief washed over the ex-shinigami as she left the damaged gigai, the cuts and bruises and pain disappearing from her senses.
She took a moment to let the change in sensation sink in, and do a mental check of how her spiritual form was doing; she seemed to be okay, though she could feel a smaller set of cuts from where the invisible thing's blade had run across her.
Well, she was in more than good enough shape to fight, and that was all she needed right now.
Shaolin took a moment to look at Rukia.
"Thank you."
Rukia nodded again and stepped back a bit, and then Shaolin closed her eyes and willed her zanpaktou to her hand.
"Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi..."
The muttered incantation was enough; the blade melted around her finger into the familiar golden stinger.
She didn't want to make the same mistake she'd been making so far.
This fight was going to end now.
Her blade ready, she flash-stepped to the fight and aimed a high kick right in front of Ichigo, hoping that was where their current enemy was...
Her foot connected, and suddenly something materialized in front of her; the blow launched it a few meters away and the form landed in a heap.
Ichigo started to look in her direction with a look of mild outrage.
"Obasan-!"
Shaolin silenced him with a glare, and then flashed to where the figure had landed.
It was a woman in white, relatively slender, with a cape and cowl around her features, and she was still lying on the ground, stunned by the blow she'd received.
Even as she thought about how anti-climactic this seemed, the ex-shinigami didn't care about who this opponent was – whether they were Hollow or something else.
The ex-shinigami was too tired to care about anything other than dealing with a threat to her family and community.
She flash-stepped to the woman and quickly pierced her in the center of her body. The butterfly design glowed for a moment, and then rapidly expanded until absorbed the woman's form.
Another moment, and the design faded, leaving nothing of the woman behind.
It was over...for now...
"Not a bad move, child. But I was expecting that from you..."
The voice in her ear froze Shaolin completely.
And then her world exploded as she felt something hammer into her gut, sending her to her knees again. In her pain she could see Ichigo receive a blow to the face that threw him on his behind, and then Rukia found herself sent flying some distance away.
As she tried to make sense of what was going on, she heard the voice again.
"I wanted to see how good the boy was...and let him know the truth about you..."
Shaolin's eyes went wide and the ice returned to her body.
"Why?"
There seemed to be some mirth in the voice...a voice that sounded a lot like a certain 'young girl'...
"You know why..."
Shaolin understood the creature's words and was disturbed by them, even as she felt the hairs on the back of her neck go back down.
It knew enough to know she'd been lying to Ichigo all this time...
Lies that had nearly gotten him, Rukia and Tatsuki...not to mention herself and Hana...consumed by a Hollow.
She turned her attention to Ichigo.
"Is that thing still here?"
Ichigo, still shocked out of his mind by what had been happening, took a quick look and then shook his head.
"Good."
She took another quick look and noticed that Tatsuki was gone. There was momentary alarm until she realized what had probably happened; it made her feel angry and relieved at the same time that Kisuke might have been there this whole time, but at least she knew the girl was all right.
Ichigo opened his mouth, probably to ask one of a million questions.
She understood he deserved answers, but not here, not with the authorities likely to come roaring in here soon. They would also want answers to what had happened, and the ex-shinigami really didn't feel like dealing with that now.
She flash-stepped to what was left of her gigai, picks it up and then started on the journey back to Furin Hall.
It was something of an ignominious exit, but she needed time to think and check on Hana's condition. She wasn't happy about what had happened, and she needed to think about all she had seen today.
As for Ichigo, Shaolin would answer his questions when he came to her, and she hoped one day he'd be able to forgive her someday.
She knew she probably wouldn't...
Mei Xing closed her eyes on the scene in the pool in front of her, took a deep breath, and then found herself back in the small safe-house as she opened her eyes again. The spartan concrete and steel garage wasn't much to look at compared to Ginmizu's realm, but it was useful enough for her purposes.
And it was quiet, which was good because the shinigami needed to think on what she'd just witnessed.
Some of it had been predictable. The Kuchiki heiress had performed about like Mei Xing had thought she would; the girl was a middling shinigami, even by her own account, and she'd had a run of bad luck lately.
A small part of Mei Xing felt for Rukia; she must be going through some powerful embarrassment right now.
And then there had been that human...Tatsuki, she thought the name was...the one who had decided to get involved in the battle.
The shinigami smiled a little at that; she'd been right to help Tatsuki that little bit against Shrieker, and now the effort had been rewarded with...
Mei Xing wasn't sure what she had seen.
As she got up and started working out residual stiffness in her joints, images went through her mind of a technique that Yoruichi herself had been developing before her...'departure'. It was the same energy, the same effect on spiritual matter, the same use of martial arts as a focus.
It was good that Kisuke had come and taken the girl when no one else was looking.
Mei Xing dared to say that the former taichou had actually looked shocked at Tatsuki's display of power.
About as shocked as Mei Xing was concerning the mysterious woman and the events around her.
Kurosaki Ichigo, a no-one, had been able to at least sense the woman's presence, where three other shinigami had seen nothing but air. And he'd at least been able to fight that creature for a little bit, even with what was almost certainly no training to speak of.
He definitely bore watching, and a report to her superiors; Ichigo would probably be very useful in the plans they had for Soul Society.
And none too soon.
The woman in white had split in two in order to escape Shaolin's last attack, and seemed to have an innate invisibility power, and yet she had the speed and ability of a shinigami.
She'd heard reports from the few of her people who had gone to Hueco Mundo and made it back. There seemed to be Hollows like that, Hollows that straddled the line with shinigami, much as the Vizards went in the other direction.
And the man who had been involved in those kinds of experiments was now living in exile in this very town...
Mei Xing made her way to the door and then paused.
She'd seen Shaolin's signal for a parley, and she could imagine what dear cousin would want to talk about. It would allow for something else to get started, here in Karakura.
And it would be needed.
The mystery person and Shrieker...and maybe even Ichigo, too...
Mei Xing knew an audition when she saw one.
Shrieker was somewhat more powerful than the average Hollow, a little more skilled and lucky; he would be useful, but probably for nothing more than a high-ranking foot soldier. His loss would hardly be noticed in the grand scheme of things.
But it meant that someone was raising an army, an army of Hollows. A regimented army, organized and perhaps even trained a little, not like the hordes their kind usually came in.
An army likely led by more of those things she'd seen...
An army that would be turned either against the Living World or Soul Society.
Mei Xing went outside and headed for Furin Hall, determination in her heart.
She would report what she had seen after contacting Shaolin, and she could imagine what the response would be.
The project would be absolutely necessary now; Yamamoto-sama was too stuck in his ways to deal with new things or consider new ideas. And the situation as she saw it was practically screaming for new ideas.
It meant dealing with the Kuchiki and Shihouin, and getting a certain something out of Kisuke's reach, and it thrilled Mei Xing just a little bit that she was going to be a part of all that, even as she made her way through the midday streets.
Arisawa Tatsuki felt strange as she opened her eyes.
She knew she'd gone unconscious again, not long after...whatever had happened. A moment's thought brought the fight in the street back to her mind: the monster...a bleeding Feng-sensei...
And Ichigo in some sort of black uniform.
It was all still a little hazy from half-remembered pain and fear, and even now she felt tired; part of her wanted nothing more than to go straight back into whatever oblivion she'd just come from.
But another part was curious, and that part was winning the fight for now.
For one thing...was she still alive?
Tatsuki remembered the monster she had fought...the one that had hurt her friends...had hurt sensei so badly...and was trying to hurt Ichigo...
She'd killed it, hadn't she? Sent it back to whatever part of Hell it had come from.
Tatsuki knew she'd never hear the end of it from Ichigo about 'stealing his kill' or something.
He'd live, and if he didn't, well...
He'd just have to.
She flexed her muscles and moved her limbs a little, just to test, and found them responding normally; she was a bit stiff, but she didn't feel any real pain on her person. Not bad from what she assumed was a fall onto concrete or asphalt after having been blown up.
Tatsuki was pretty sure that she'd made it out of that whole thing physically unscathed.
And then taken...wherever 'here' was...
She was in some dark room, maybe a bedroom; there was enough light for her to make out sliding panels and wooden beams, which meant she was in a traditionally-built house. Beyond that she could be anywhere on the Home Islands for all she knew.
But she didn't feel like she was in danger.
Far from it, she felt very safe; the fact that she was laying undisturbed on a tatami mat, wrapped in a very comfortable blanket, said as much.
She didn't know what was going on, but found she didn't care much...
"...doing here...?"
The words were from a man...somewhat high-pitched, easy-going...a little bit of whimsy in them...
Tatsuki heard someone else talking, even as she began to feel tired again...
She was pretty sure it was a woman...and she sounded stressed, even though none of the words made it to Tatsuki's ears...
The image formed in the student's mind of a pair of kimono-wearing kitsune being the source of the argument, and a small smile began to form on her lips.
Kidnapped by foxes.
Well, that would fit with such a ridiculous day...
It was a thought with accompanied Tatsuki's mind as she drifted back into slumber in the nice warm room.
Author's Notes: You may have already guessed it by this point what power I'm giving Tatsuki (I've made it pretty explicit now) – shunko, or at least something like it.
The reasoning goes like this – Tatsuki's focus is on martial arts, which is one of the foundations of shunko; Tatsuki is also one of the most durable humans in the series, surviving exposure to energies and techniques that should have left her very dead several times, and so must have some way of dealing with captain-level power; since she's just a human, and therefore couldn't possibly have the ability to go toe-to-toe with that, she had to have some way of naturally 'opposing' or 'negating' spiritual energy; amplify that ability, and if it isn't shunko it's something like the art.
As for how my mystery woman wound up being invisible, I hope people remember the bracelet Orihime was given before she got hauled off to Hueco Mundo in the canon universe. It truly is pathetic that the bad guys wouldn't have made a lot more use of such an item; they aren't making that mistake here. And as for why Mei Xing could see through the invisibility field – I'm assuming the field is proof against humans and shinigami but not zanpaktou spirits, the 'eyes' of one she's looking through.
One other aside – I have the idea of 'safe-houses' existing. They're basically locations shielded from the Hollows, not unlike I assume the Urahara Shoten is. The reason for this being that the shinigami are known to need sleep, and one has to wonder where they could sleep when a enemy can literally 'warp' right behind them at any time...