Author's Notes:
Do you hear that? That is the sound of the 10.000 words count, which this chapter just shattered.
The next morning came, and with it, a commotion arose in the seireitei. The information that ryoka, intruders, rogue shinigami of considerable strength, had somehow made their way into the seireitei spread quickly among the shinigami of the Gotei Thirteen. Predictably, this lead to a severe increase of patrols in the seireitei, filling its streets with shinigami of all divisions and levels of power. The intention was to catch the intruders as soon as possible, quickly overpowering them should they chose to resist.
Not that Ichigo or Tatsuki knew anything about this, that is. The only thing they noticed was that in comparison to yesterday, the amount of shinigami that they saw was a lot higher than it was before, and that said shinigami seemed to be a lot more serious in their behaviour.
"So what do we do now?" Ichigo asked, looking up to the bridge, which currently somebody seemed to walk over. "Whatever is going on here, it can't be good. You don't suppose that they already know about us, do you?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Tatsuki said dismissively, standing just next to the bridge, also looking up. "So far, we've kept our cover up perfectly fine. This must be about something else."
As she talked, Yoruichi hoped first onto her shoulder, and then on the bridge itself. "Whatever it is, we shouldn't waste our time trying to figure it out. We'll just have to be careful from now on."
"Because we have been so totally careless until now..." Ichigo grumbled under his breath, too quiet for anybody to hear it.
"C'mon, you two! Right now, there's nobody else around. Get up here!"
Silently, the two of them did what Yoruichi asked them to, and climbed up. Just Yoruichi had said, no one was around – at least not now...
Silently, the two of them began heading down the streets. Neither of them were in a talking mood- Yoruichi had managed to scrounge- steal, most likely- a small breakfast of rice balls, but they were still tired, still hungry. Slowly, they headed deeper into the seireitei.
This lasted for all of two minutes, as one block down, they were approached by a patrol of five shinigami- officers, judging by their reiatsu. Ichigo and Tatsuki acted as if they had every right to be there, as if they were normal… but the bubble soon burst.
"There, men!" The patrol leader exclaimed. "That's the intruders! Take 'em alive- but don't be afraid to cut them down if you have to!"
If there was anything to really wake up a tired teenager aside from coffee strong enough to knock out a rhino, it would be the threat of nigh-fatal violence to their person. Instantly, the two of them took a stance, all weariness gone, replaced with the kind of awareness of life that only being closer to death provides.
"Oh, shit." Tatsuki mumbled. "Run? Fight?"
"Remember what Yoruichi said- run!" Ichigo hissed. The patrol was advancing on them, spreading out. "Can you dash to the side, get past them?"
"I am warning you," the patrol leader said, "surrender now, and you will not be harmed!" Something about his appearance made that hard to believe- not that they'd ever consider surrendering to begin with.
"I'll go left." Tatsuki said. "Shunpo?"
"You know it."
The patrol leader took one step further, when Ichigo and Tatsuki split. For one quick moment, it looked like they were charging- and then, in a movement so quick that no human eye would have caught it, they dashed to one side each, up against the walls and past the patrol, running as fast as their legs could carry.
"After them!" The patrol leader roared. Ichigo and Tatsuki didn't turn around to look- they had already dashed around the corner, and proceeded to jump over the next wall they saw, hoping to dodge their pursuers. Well, so much for stealth…
oOo
Elsewhere, the general commotion was not lost on Uryu and Orihime, though like Ichigo and Tatsuki, they did not have the slightest clue on what it could possibly mean. Figuring that their disguises would be hard to keep up today, the two of them ultimately decided to continue towards the center of the seireitei over the rooftops, be it convenient or not. Luckily enough, though, none of the shinigami that hurried to the streets looked up and saw them – if they were however doing it out of discipline or anxiety, Uryu could not tell, and wasn't exactly keen on finding it out, either.
In the end, however, the commotion did have at least one good thing about it: Despite having only been able to sleep about half the night, Uryu was wide awake. The night had been generally uneventful; there simply was so little activity in the noble house in the garden of which they had slept, that in the early morning, he even dared to sneak into the house to get something to eat and drink for him and Orihime. He had not been able to get much, but it was still enough to not leave the garden with an empty stomach.
Making their way across the rooftops, avoiding the shinigami in the streets, Uryu and Orihime reached the inner seireitei after only about an hour. Judging by the first impression, the only difference between the parts of the seireitei that they had been in until now, and the one that they were now entering, was that there seemed to be less noble houses around... which really made Uryu wonder why the inner wall was necessary to begin with. The prison in the very center was still a good distance away, so it couldn't be here as a safety-measure to keep prisoners in. So what was this wall for?
Obviously though, simply wondering about the matter did not give him any answers, so he simply continued walking forwards, still carrying the tome that Kukaku had given him as a part of his disguise, with Orihime following him closely. Right now, no shinigami were around, giving Uryu some slight hope that maybe, they might be able to make it to the center without actually being detected... but of course, the universe hated people who think that everything is going smooth, which it showed by having a shinigami come around a nearby corner, running towards them. He was most likely also heading towards whatever had caused the commotion elsewhere, which meant that with some luck, he might even run past them.
But they did not have that luck.
"Oy, you two! What are you doing here?" The man shouted, when he noticed Uryu and Orihime. He had dark brown, messy hair, a small beard, and was wearing a pair of sunglasses, and had a cigarette in his mouth. Judging from the tone of his voice alone, this guy might be harder to fool than the two third-seats...
Trying to quickly put on the image of the nasal, boring accountant, Uryu said, "We are here on official business. Who are you?"
"'Hasegawa Taizo, seventh division, third seat. And official business... zat so?" The man said, sounding more than a little skeptical.
"Of course!" Orihime insisted. "I am Shiba Nami, and we are on our way to complete an important errand for my cousin, Shiba Kukaku! Now, please stand aside-"
"Noble? Really?" Hasegawa said, sounding in between disdainful and humorous. "Then you wouldn't mind showing me your official clan crest? The one all nobles carry with them as a mark of their station?"
Orihime was set aback, but only for a second. Quickly, she began rummaging her clothes, as if she had really lost something. "...oh drat, I seem to have misplaced it. It must have been at that unsavoury division we passed earlier. No matter-"
"You two are comin' with me." Hasegawa said, giving them a grim look.
"I beg your pardon?" Orihime exclaimed. "I am-"
"As noble as my toe nails." He shot back. "Nobles don't go carryin' round crests- and anyone this far in with an errand has paperwork. If you were noble, or even working for a noble, you'd know that."
Well, shit. This had been going so well, Uryu reflected- but then again, they had gotten so far in that a couple more hours of travel, and they'd reach their goal- if they only got past this guy.
"Both a' ya, get on your knees with your hands on your head!" Hasegawa barked. "I didn't know there were more than two ryoka- the captain'll be real pleased with this." He reached for his sword, quickly pulling it out.
"Orihime, get back!" Uryu shouted.
"Cute, pencil pusher- playin' the white knight? Now get down, or I'll have to stop playing nice."
"Please," Uryu said, throwing the tome and his disguise away, revealing his Quincy outfit, "...I don't think so."
Holding his hand up, the Quincy chain dangled from his wrist. In an instant, the bow formed, and within the next second, he had stringed an arrow and let it fly. For just a fleeting moment, Uryu hoped that he had done it, taken his enemy down quick and clean- but no such luck. Hasegawa stood a good thirty feet back, a small stream of blood trailing down his cheek.
"Shit... you're not bad." He remarked, spitting the cigarette out of his mouth. "That cross- Quincy, ain't you?"
"Indeed." Uryu said, readjusting his glasses- not at this point because he needed to; it had almost become a tic. "I suggest you run. I will show you no mercy."
"No can do. You're both coming with me." He held his blade up straight, pointing it towards Uryu. "Chill 'em, Arimasu no Fuyu."
Instantly, there was a cold gale, a gust of wind too cold to be naturally produced. Uryu steeled himself, ready to react-
and then suddenly, Hasegawa was right in front of him. There was no time to dodge; he'd get a clean hit in-
"Santen Kesshun, I reject!" Orihime cried, and suddenly a shield manifested, right between the officer's blade and himself. He knew it; it was one of her unique abilities- he had even helped her train it, and he was grateful for it now. Quickly, Uryu flashed back, moving out of range.
"What..." He said, not sure what had happened. He was prepared for the idea that a shinigami might move faster than he could react, but he should at least have been able to sense it- but he had felt nothing; he had just been there all of a sudden. How?
"Damn dirty tricks." Hasegawa said, taking a stance as the shield disintegrated, returning to Orihime. "Well..."
"Santen Kesshun!" Orihime cried, and Uryu could see something flash against the shield just briefly.
"It's some... thing he uses!" Orihime cried. "I saw him use his sword, and then there was this blue kind of light, and you froze for just a second, Ishida-kun!"
"So that's his ability..." Uryu mumbled.
"You're quick to catch on, kids," Hasegawa said. "But your little tricks ain't nearly enough- and this ain't close to all my blade can do." He let out a burst of power, his reiatsu rising.
"Be prepared." Uryu said, but it was all he could manage before the officer had charged, coming at them furiously. Uryu used his hirenkyaku to move back, but it wasn't him he was after- there was a flash from Hasegawa's zanpakutou, and Orihime was encased in a cloud of ice.
"No more shields!" Hasegawa shouted. "Your turn, Quincy boy!"
Uryu grit his teeth. This was very much not good... this guy had disabled Orihime before she could even react, which meant that Uryu was now all on his own, and- he was once again charging towards him! Only narrowly, Uryu evaded Hasegawa by moving backwards with another hirenkyaku.
But Hasegawa didn't give up so quickly. "What's wrong, Quincy boy? Is dodging all that you're good at? No wonder your kind was exterminated in the war!" He roared, chasing after Uryu, who kept evading him.
In response, Uryu only growled quietly, and fired several arrows at Hasegawa. As to be expected however, none of the arrows actually found their target - though two did graze the shinigami, giving him some light cuts. So this man wasn't entirely out of his league, after all.
"Your aim is terrible, boy!" Hasegawa taunted, though Uryu could tell by his tone that he was somehow concerned... had he noticed that Uryu might be a match for him, after all?
Whatever the case, there was no use in just running away all the time. Uryu stopped dead in his tracks. Hasegawa was still charging at him, surprise now written all over his face. Expecting a direct attack, the shinigami attempted to dodge whatever was coming his way-
Only to find that Uryu had used his hirenkyaku to get behind him and fire at him from his blind spot!
Hasegawa was sent flying for a few feet, before landing on the ground. He had still been able to evade most of Uryu's shots, but a good number of them had still hit him: He was bleeding from multiple places, though none of his wounds seemed to be too deep. Uryu was already getting hopeful that that might already be enough for Hasegawa... but of course, it wasn't.
Not even a second after his impact, the man got back up. "Well, would you look at that. Seems like you're better than I thought... but that won't-!"
"Koten Zanshun, I reject! Tsubaki!"
Hasegawa turned around, just barely dodging, as Orihime's red projectile zoomed just past him. He had wasted too much time- she had gotten free. His zanpakutou was good, but it could only freeze one enemy at a time for a total of forty seconds- and the damn Quincy had spent those seconds dodging.
"Oh, fuck!"
He spun around to face Uryu, but predictably, he wasn't there.
"Running isn't all I'm good at at all." Uryu said coldly, holding his bow at Hasegawa's back, almost point blank with an arrow stringed. "But if I do get cut, I can't just shrug it off like you people. So I had to be patient."
"You-"
But Uryu didn't let him reply, letting the arrow loose. It hit dead center, running right through Hasegawa's back. The shinigami staggered, coughing blood, and…
Most frustratingly, he didn't fall over dead.
"Yer damn… good." Hasegawa managed, just barely standing up.
"You're finished." Uryu said flatly.
"'Zat so?" Hasegawa said, taking a stance. He was bleeding profusely, but stood up nonetheless. In an instant, Uryu remembered his ability, and made to flash away-
But too late. Hasegawa had already moved, and in one split second of paralysis, he had moved forward, cutting Ishida from shoulder to hip. As the paralysis let up, Uryu sank to his knees, pain overwhelming him. God… damn.
"See, you got cocky." Hasegawa explained, grabbing Uryu by the hair. "You got close for a hard hit, and that's good- but you didn't expect me to get back up." He put his sword at Uryu's throat. "A for effort, kid, but this is where it ends. Come quietly, and we'll see about that wound-"
"Tsubaki!" Orihime cried. Instantly, the little spirit charged forward, slamming into Hasegawa's chest. The man let out a gargle, and fell over, still conscious- but it seemed he had taken as much as he could. Struggling, Uryu got up to his feet. He was bleeding heavily, barely standing. His bow arm was still good, even though his string arm was now useless. Never mind- he could still finish this. Slowly, he formed the bow, taking the string in his teeth, letting an arrow form as he drew the bow up for a killing blow. It was the best thing to do here, to just get rid of him quickly. He let the arrow fly-
"Santen kisshun, I reject!" The triangular, transparent and vaguely orange shield formed, blocking his shot.
"Inoue-san." He said, looking at Orihime.
"He lost. You were going to kill him."
He blinked. "Yes. This is serious- we need to take care of this quickly and move on. He's an enemy, Inoue-san."
"He's a person." Orihime said firmly. "And he's already down."
Hasegawa groaned. "He's not even unconscious!" Uryu shot back.
Quickly, Orihime walked over, and unceremoniously slammed a fist into Hasegawa's face. He groaned again, this time seeming quite unconscious.
"There. Now he's unconscious. Now sit down so I can heal you both."
"But…" Uryu, feeling to faint to argue, sat down. Orihime called out her shimmering field, the one she used for healing- Soten Kisshun. As it enveloped the two of them and his wounds began to mend, he looked at Orihime. She didn't look angry, but there was… something about her.
"You must think I'm pretty naïve." She said, sounding oddly neutral. "We're in enemy territory, with people who want to kill us and all that. We need to be ready to kill. Right?"
"…yes, something like that." It was, in fact, what he had planned to say himself.
"Well, I don't like it." She said, shaking her head. "I'm not a child- I know that maybe some times, you don't have a choice- but when you do have a choice, you shouldn't do it. He's not going anywhere and we can move on in just a minute- and he wasn't trying to kill us."
Uryu said nothing; she made a surprising amount of sense. He had half expected some tearful, half-hearted lament about how life was sacred and how killing was always wrong- but she was, metaphorically, on fire, reasoning at least decently.
"When you kill somebody, that's it. The end. Some people have to do it." She continued. "I know you're the one that knows the most about the afterlife, the one that has the most experience- but that doesn't mean it's right to kill a man because it's the easiest solution to a problem."
"And if it's one of those times when you have to?"
"Then do it. Do it, and do it quickly and without holding back. But unless that's the case, don't ever kill anybody. Especially not if it's some guy who is just doing his job."
"…okay then." He muttered. He hadn't expected this lecture, and he wasn't particularly inclined to argue. Women! No, people! People and their stupid, soft hearted notions and romantic views and… stupid, stupid logics and ethics. He grumbled.
"Feeling better?" Orihime asked, smiling.
"I suppose." Uryu said, standing up. He to admit, Orihime's healing was way more efficient than any of the Quincy healing arts that his grandfather had taught him: While he still felt very exhausted from the fight, no injuries remained, and he didn't feel any pain.
Which probably meant that it probably wasn't any different for Hasegawa.
"So if killing is out of the question, what do you think should we do about him?" Uryu asked, pointing at the unconscious shinigami.
"Hide him somewhere!" Orihime said nonchalantly. "It shouldn't be too hard to move him to some place where he won't be found right away, and maybe we'll even find something to tie him up. That way, it'll be a while before he'll be able to report us to anyone."
Uryu grunted. "We better find a place to hide him fast then. With all this commotion here, it probably won't be long before we come across the next shinigami, and if we're still carrying this guy around by then, we're essentially done for."
"No time to waste, then!"
"Right, right..." Uryu said absent-mindedly, trying to figure out how to carry Hasegawa around, ultimately deciding to keep him over his shoulder, which turned out to be every bit as uncomfortable and heavy as he had imagined.
Before he could make his way towards the next rooftop, Orihime spoke up once more. "Wait!"
Uryu turned around, not exactly happy about the prospect of carrying the man any longer than necessary. "What is it?"
Without saying a word, Orihime went around Uryu, and did something with Hasegawa's head hanging over his shoulder. After a moment she had finished whatever she was doing, and walked in front of Uryu again... who could now see that she had taken off Hasegawa's sunglasses, and put them on herself.
"...What?" Uryu muttered more than he asked, utter confusion dominating in his tone.
"I'm wearing sunglasses now! Sunglasses are cool." Orihime exclaimed proudly. "Shall we go now?"
"...Yeah. Let's get going." Uryu finally said, after staring at Orihime speechlessly for almost a minute. There was no time to waste... especially not now, with them having to find a place to dump Hasegawa.
oOo
Ichigo rested his back against a wall, panting. "Did we shake them off?"
"Yeah, I think we did." Tatsuki replied. She, just like he, was trying to catch her breath.
"Thank god..." Ichigo mumbled. The patrol had chased them through what felt like half the seireitei – probably multiple hours of running away, looking for places to hide, and trying to evade their pursuers. By now, he understood very clearly why staying undiscovered had been so important: The shinigami of the Gotei Thirteen were quite obviously very persistent when it came to catching intruders. In fact, the only reason why Ichigo and Tatsuki did stop at all was because they hadn't seen or sensed their pursuers for quite a while now – they had already thought several times before that they had shaken off their pursuers, only to find them coming around the next corner, though so far not once had this much time passed between these encounters.
At the same time though, they had lost Yoruichi during the chase, which meant that now they had absolutely no clue where they were or where they came from, and only had a vague idea into which direction they needed to go. At the very least they couldn't sense any shinigami in the general area, which meant that they at least didn't have to worry too much about being discovered for the time being.
"So which way do we go now?" Tatsuki asked, looking around.
Ichigo shrugged. "Towards the center, I suppose? I mean, it's not like we really have any other options as far as that goes."
Tatsuki scratched her head. "Oh, right... let's go, then."
Quietly, they got walking again. As they went on, their surroundings barely changed, and there still seemed to be nobody else around... it was almost as if the patrolling shinigami avoided this place, for whatever reason.
Before long, though, their walk was interrupted: After something like ten minutes, they saw two shinigami walking towards them- not part of a hunting group, apparently; the two of them were walking leisurely, talking loudly to one another- about battle and fighting, apparently.
"Stay cool." Tatsuki said quietly.
Ichigo nodded. With some luck, they could perhaps slip past them.
As they got closer, Ichigo got a good look at them. One was completely bald, with red markings at his eyes, his voice rough and intense. The other one looked every bit like a dandy, some sort of odd feathers attached to one of his eyebrows. His hair was dark black, and he moved his hands in a manner that would have, in the world of the living, invoked quite a few unfortunate stereotypes when coupled with his soft, effeminate voice.
Not that there was anything wrong with that sort of thing.
As they got closer, Ichigo swallowed. Please don't let them notice, please don't let them notice…
"Oy, kids!" The bald one said, stopping. "Ain't you even going to acknowledge us, the ones what'll pound yer faces into the dirt?"
"How terribly rude." The other one remarked.
"There isn't even any dirt around here." Tatsuki said, gesturing to the cobblestoned street they were walking on. "So I guess that whole pounding thing will have to wait."
The bald man let out a laughter. "Funny." He said, drawing his sword. Immediately, Ichigo and Tatsuki drew theirs, taking stances. "I'm Madarame Ikkaku, third seat of the eleventh division."
"Wait, wait, Ikkaku!" The other one exclaimed.
"What is it, Yumichika?" Ikkaku growled. "I'm about to cut these punks up but good-"
"Who said you could take them both for yourself!" The dandy, apparently named Yumichika, said, sounding almost whiny. "You can't just hog all the good fights for yourself- two, just for you? For shame!"
"Well, they'll be no fun one on one, will they?!" Ikkaku shot back. "Look at 'em- good-for-nothin' punks with no experience! They probably never did see real combat before, and their reiatsu ain't that special."
"They got this far. You shouldn't be so greedy."
"Kids, help me out," Ikkaku said, turning to Ichigo and Tatsuki. "Yer a couple of total greenhorns- right? C'mon, it's obvious."
"Uh…" Ichigo said, not sure what to say to that. He hadn't expected an argument like this.
"You can underestimate us at your own risk, baldy." Tatsuki said, trying her best to sound tough.
"See? They've got spirit!" Yumichika said.
"You know as well as I do that if it's one on one, they'll just lose."
"Fine!" Yumichika said, pouting. "So let's settle this. There's no reason you should just get them for yourself."
"I'm third seat!"
"So what? You're not that much stronger!"
"Bullshit!" Ikkaku said angrily, getting in Yumichika's face. The dandy pushed back, forehead to forehead.
"Let's just settle who gets to fight, all right?"
"Yeah? How?"
"Jan-ken-pon. Best of three!"
"You're on, dumbass!"
"You're going down!"
Ichigo stared, mouth open. This was… absurd. They were going to fight- but only when they'd play rock, paper, scissors over who got the privilege?
He watched, as the two shinigami played a rapid set, loudly screaming out 'Jan, ken, pon!' Finally, Ikkaku won out. He cheered loudly.
"Toldja!"
"I'm up next." Yumichika said sourly.
"All right, kids," Ikkaku said, taking a stance, letting his not insignificant reiatsu spike, "let's do this."
"Destroy them, Zangetsu!" Ichigo cried, as he unsheathed his sword, and his zanpakutou transformed.
"Strike, Raitora!" Tatsuki cried, and her zanpakutou split into the brass knuckles she was used to, a bit of electricity cracking. This definitely wasn't going to be easy...
Ikkaku let out a mockingly impressed whistle. "Woah, not bad! Even got shikai, the two of you! Seems like this'll be more fun than I expected!" He pulled a freakishly wide grin. "Go ahead then, kids! Attack me!"
Ichigo and Tatsuki stared at Ikkaku incredulously. "You... want us to make the first move?" Tatsuki asked, her confusion very apparent in her tone. "Isn't that kinda, you know, a rather stupid thing to do?"
"Geez, for a bunch of ryoka, the two of you don't really know a lot, do ya?" The bald man snarled. "Well then, dig the wax outta ya ears and listen really closely, because I'm gonna fill you in! Among the thirteen squads of the Gotei, there is one that is infamous among all the other ones. Its members all share one thing: Their unbreakable love for fighting! The strongest Squad of 'em all, the Eleventh! We all live for the thrill of being in a fact, of proving our strength in a situation where it's either living or dying! And of that division, I'm the third seat, Madarame Ikkaku! If I go all-out against the two of you right from the get-go, you won't even get a chance to hit me! So I'm only telling ya this once: Attack me! Show me what ya can do!"
Ichigo and Tatsuki exchanged a quick glance. Their silent conclusion: This man was definitely a nutjob.
But it would still be rude to just reject his offer.
Without saying a word, Ichigo and Tatsuki both charged forward at Ikkaku: Ichigo right from the front, Tatsuki going in an arc to try to get him from the side – third seat or not, there was no way that he would be able to evade or block both attacks.
In an instant, Ichigo had reached the bald shinigami – he reached back, and performed a downward slash... which Ikkaku effortlessly blocked, as to be expected.
Seeing this, and hoping to get in an actual hit while Ikkaku was busy with Ichigo, Tatsuki moved towards him, getting ready to ram her fist into the man- only for him slam his scabbard into her chest, sending her tumbling.
Ichigo drew in a sharp breath- could they really do this? His reiatsu wasn't greater than their own by a lot, but he had taken both their attacks almost effortlessly.
"Haha, not bad!" Ikkaku laughed loudly. "Attacking from two directions at once? Shikai? The two of you know what yer doing – time for me to get serious, then! Grow, Hozukimaru!"
He slammed his sword and scabbard together, and there was a light as it transformed, turning into a spear, with a long, sharp-looking blade at the end. Not wasting a second, Ikkaku charged, ferociously stabbing at Ichigo, moving at blinding speed. Was it even possible to thrust a blade so quickly?
Tatsuki got to her feet, but Ikkaku was already on top of that- slamming a foot in Ichigo's gut, sending him reeling back, he launched himself at Tatsuki, who just barely parried the first strike- she could feel it raking over her upper left arm, drawing blood, a sharp sensation of pain reminding her just how real this was. Just barely, she parried the next thrust, and the next- but then Ikkaku kicked her on the knee, and brutally, it slammed into the ground, Tatsuki standing on one knee. The pain dulled her senses; she was open-
And there was Ichigo, charging, roaring like a lion, coming at Ikkaku-
And suddenly, the spear had run into his gut, passing his guard entirely. Ichigo let out a horrible wheezing kind of noise, almost sinking to his knees. Ikkaku took a few steps back, taking a relaxed stance.
"Too obvious angle, kid. You're a greenhorn- reading your movements is easy." He grinned cockily. It was obvious to Tatsuki, as she struggled to stand, ignoring the pain in her knee, that he was prolonging this intentionally- he could have killed Ichigo right there, beaten them both, but he was giving them, for a given value of the expression, a sporting chance.
"You attacked me to bait him." She managed, through her teeth.
"You must be the brains of this operation." Ikkaku said. "Well, that's enough talking!"
Again, he charged, thrusting at Ichigo, who just barely kept up, barely dodging the lethal strikes thrown his way. It was amazing, she noticed, how he could stand at all- a wound to the gut like that would have been game ending if they were in their human bodies.
Ichigo was parrying as best he could, trying to strike- but this Ikkaku was a veteran, too fast and too experienced. Tatsuki wasn't going to be doing nothing, though- if he could see through her first move, it was time to do something else. Ignoring the screamed protests of her injured knee, she leapt forward, going into a rolling somersault. She sprung up, trying to hit his side- but Ikkaku hadn't forgotten her, and took a step back, neatly dodging her punch. Swiftly, he retaliated, slamming a fist into her face. She staggered back- but Ichigo was already at him, and she saw… something. In the short time he had taken to use one hand to punch her, something had happened to be forced back just a step to keep up with Ichigo's assault. So that was why- two on one was harder, and that was the challenge. It sounded obvious now that she thought of it, but it did mean that maybe, just maybe, they had a chance.
Quickly she hopped forward once more, going for a sweeping, low kick aimed at his legs, almost at a floor level. Ikkaku jumped over it easily, taking the chance to slam a foot into Ichigo's chest, sending him back.
Frustrated, Tatsuki lashed out. "Raitora!" She cried, punching her fist upwards, in one motion getting up and attacking. There was an electrical discharge, and there was a shock- and briefly, Ikkaku stopped, hopping back.
"Not bad, kids." He said, still grinning like a madman. "Good workout."
"Listen, Tatsuki," Ichigo said, breathing heavily, "I'm about to try and do something big. He's probably gonna block it- you're the speedy one, so you have to try and make something of it."
"Got it." She said, nodding.
"C'mon, then!" Ikkaku cried, sounding strangely happy. "I ain't got all day!"
"Have it your way." Ichigo said, raising Zangetsu. There was a surge in his reiatsu, and the blade begun to glow. "Getsuga… TENSHO!"
Immediately, a blue-ish arc of light shot out, and Tatsuki could feel the raw power coming from it- it was a technique she had seen him practice during spars, but she hadn't seen it perfected… till now.
Bracing himself, Ikkaku took the hit head on, blocking it with his Hozukimaru. He was being pushed back- but Tatsuki didn't stay to observe; she was already moving, slipping into the fastest shunpo she could control.
"Raitora, with me! Let's take him down, together!" And in her head, she could hear the weapon spirit sing with approval; it felt like it was lifting her up. She felt amazing, like she could kill planets…
And then she was behind Ikkaku, her fists charged with lightning. She took the briefest of time to look for a target, and instantly aimed for his kidneys- if shinigami did have kidneys, that is. Slamming her right fist into his back, she discharged all the electricity she had mustered, screaming with triumphant fury.
Which, as she quickly realized, had come to soon.
While he was by now visibly exhausted and wounded, Ikkaku was in fact still standing... and the grin of his face showcased a very obvious bloodlust. "Awesome! Now this is what I call a fight! This is the best fun I've had in years! You kids better keep this up!"
Ichigo couldn't believe his ears. This guy was at least as beat up as they were, and yet he still asked for more... hell, unless Ichigo completely misinterpreted his expression, he was only just getting started. If they really wanted to stand a chance, they would have to continue working together... a conclusion that Tatsuki, based on the look she was giving Ichigo, had reached as well.
Silently, Tatsuki charged once more at Ikkaku, getting ready to punch him... which the bald shinigami of course easily saw coming, evading her attack with a cocky grin on his face- thereby doing exactly what Ichigo had expected. When Ikkaku realized that Ichigo was behind him, getting ready to slash at his left arm, it was already almost too late, and he couldn't escape Ichigo's slash entirely: The attack hit. While the cut wasn't too deep, it was a cut nonetheless, it would at the very least still hinder his movements. Ichigo grinned.
"Well, would ya look at that." Ikkaku meanwhile said, inspecting the injury on his left arm. "That electric stuff must've shocked me harder than I thought, if I couldn't dodge some obvious attack like that... y'know, I might actually start to consider you kids a threat."
Determined to not let this opportunity of the enemy being distracted by his own injury go to waste, Tatsuki moved in to land another hit- only to be effortlessly knocked aside by Ikkaku's spear.
"Let's go, Tatsuki," Ichigo said, standing ready to attack again. "Both at once, we can take him."
Tatsuki nodded in understanding.
"If ya can talk, then ya can fight!" Ikkaku hollered. "C'mon, cut me up some more- if you can!"
Obliging him, Ichigo charge forward, holding his Zangetsu by his side, making for a heavy, wide horizontal swing.
It was only later, when he reflected on the fight in his head, that he realized how crucial the small move Ikkaku made was. As Ichigo charged, so did Tatsuki. Ikkaku did little, except take a step and a half forward at just the right time- and now Tatsuki's kick missed just barely, but Ichigo's sword was coming in-
And Ikkaku caught it, blade to blade, guiding the hit into the ground. Quickly, he slammed the pommel of his spear in Ichigo's face, and Ichigo saw stars. Not missing a beat, Ikkaku turned to face Tatsuki's second attack, neatly catching her roundhouse kick with one hand, pushing it way up high, unbalancing her. Tatsuki stumbled backwards, and Ikkaku- having only seconds before Ichigo recovered- didn't waste the opportunity. Quickly, he grabbed her by the hair, slamming his forehead into hers. Tatsuki's vision was blurry; it was like being hit by a truck. It didn't end there- not letting go of her hair, Ikkaku brought her head down, slamming a knee in her face. Tatsuki, barely conscious, stumbled back. With deadly precision, Ikkaku lashed out, slashing her. The cut hit her clean, from shoulder to side. It had taken only three seconds. Blood splattered, and Tatsuki had to struggle to stay conscious. This was pain- pain unlike anything she had felt in training. It was pain from a wound, a real cut from an enemy who was doing his best to cut her down, even if it meant her death. This was what they were doing now.
Ichigo charged again, fighting through the blur of blunt trauma, slashing wildly. Ikkaku parried, taking a few steps back to adjust his position.
"You bastard!" Ichigo cried, the sight of Tatsuki so badly cut enraging him.
"That's one, punk. You're next."
"If you killed her…"
"You'll what? Swear revenge on her corpse?" Ikkaku sneered. "This ain't a tea party. She came at me with a lethal weapon, and I hit her back. If she was faster, it'd be me."
Ichigo had no reply. It was true, but he was too angry. Charging his sword, he cried,
"GETSUGA TENSHO!"
The blue arc of raw energy flew out, right towards Ikkaku. This time, the man dodged, rolling out of the way. Ichigo had already slipped into a clumsy shunpo, slamming his blade down at Ikkaku, for the first time with real killing intent. He was going to go down, even if it meant he died. He had to go down!
Ikkaku only barely blocked, not even on his feet yet. This up close, Ichigo was at an advantage- the spear was a good weapon, but not at this range. Here, the heavy weight of his greatsword was superior. Grunting angrily, he pushed down at Ikkaku, who was down on one knee. Ikkaku pushed back, grinning that fierce smile. Letting out an enraged cry, Ichigo pushed harder, and managed to force Ikkaku's guard back even more. The third seat grunted, sounding a little less joyous now.
Then, slowly, he began to push back, struggling up on both legs. Ichigo felt infuriated; the sheer strength in him seemed impossible.
"Good move, kid. Split!" He said. Then, he twisted his spear, and… part of it seemed to detach, bending freely. Only his good reflexes saved him- quickly, Ichigo pulled his head back. There was still a sharp sting, and warm blood poured down over his left eye. Confused, he took a step back- the pure anger was fading, and he was beginning to feel exhausted.
"I bet you thought this was just a spear." Ikkaku said, grinning. The spear had split into three parts, held together with chains. "It's actually a sansetsukon."
"I'm still standing here." Ichigo said, wiping blood from his brow- he had been cut at the forehead, although it seemed shallow.
"And so am I." It was Tatsuki's voice. She looked a mess- blood pouring from her wound, her face beginning to form some bad bruising, but she was standing, still taking a stance.
"Well I'll be damned." Ikkaku said, sounding almost impressed. "I guess you ain't half bad." Not wasting another word, he charged Ichigo, catching him by surprise- Ichigo still managed to block, but only barely. Ikkaku let out a series of quick stabs, spinning his three-part weapon rapidly. Ichigo didn't quite know how to counter it- he had never seen a weapon like this before.
Then, before Ichigo had even seen it coming, Ikkaku had done it. Sidestepping a heavy downward slash, he stepped forward, running his blade forward with him. There was a sharp pain in Ichigo's side, and blood tricked down from his waist.
Looking triumphant, Ikkaku took a stance, looking down on the two beaten-up, bloodied teenagers. Looking angry, Ichigo turned around to face him, ignoring the burning pain in his side, the blood flowing freely, soiling his robes.
"What are you gonna do, kid? Fire that sword beam again? Didn't you learn from last time? This shit doesn't work!" Ikkaku mocked, laughing loudly.
Ichigo only grinned. "Whoever said that that was the only trick that I have up my sleeve?!"
"Very well, Ichigo." Zangetsu said with an approving nod, observing Ichigo training in his inner world. "I would say that you have mastered the Getsuga Tensho now."
"'bout time..." Ichigo growled, still standing in a fighting stance. For about five days, he had been practicing this move now, trying to hit Zangetsu with it. Zangetsu had explained the Getsuga Tensho as a reliable way of attacking enemies from a certain range with what was essentially a sword beam, but until now, what Ichigo had been firing off had been far from 'reliable'. While his attempts at the Getsuga Tensho had been as strong as he hoped right from the start, the speed at which his shot flew had been a joke for most of the time – in fact, getting the speed of the attack right was what had been taking up most of the five days, though even now his Getsuga Tensho was far from hard to dodge.
"So, with the Getsuga Tensho, you now have a basic ranged attack." Zangetsu continued, his tone as distant as always. "But should you come across an enemy who is fast enough to evade your attack, you will need a move that is more unpredictable in its nature, something that covers a wider area. This new move that I am going to show you will easily cover a rather wide area, making it easier for you to hit quick foes. Be warned, however, that this move is going to take a lot out of you – in all likeliness, at your current strength, you will not be able to use it more than one or two times at once."
Ichigo sat down, staring at Zangetsu. "So what's it called then, this new move?"
"It is the Moon Shard, the...
"TSUKI NO KIZU!"
As Tatsuki watched, standing just a bit further down the street- she had staggered quite a bit, it seemed- she felt an enormous surge of power. She saw Ichigo raise his sword, and then there was a radiant blue glow as it came down, and she saw an arc of power go out, at perhaps forty-five degrees- five light blue lines of power going out in a wide angle, one of them slamming right into Ikkaku. The third seat held up his weapon, trying to parry- but he was blown off his feet, sent flying into a wall, which cracked under the pressure. The street where the attack had hit was ruined, five lines of shattered street stones marking just how big the arc had been, how destructive it was- even a part of the wall had been broken down. Ichigo had collapsed; the power he had released was apparently too much for him.
To her amazement, Ikkaku was getting up on his feet, although he seemed more than a little shaky, a third of his three-part spear torn off. He had a huge, bleeding wound on his chest, in a straight line- that had to be where Ichigo's attack hit him. Well, if he still wanted to fight…
Slowly, she let her reiatsu build up, feeling the electricity flowing through her, conducting at her brass knuckles.
"Let's go, Raitora…" she mumbled, determination all in her voice.
"Yes, master!" Raitora said, almost shouting her approval in Tatsuki's mind.
Knowing very well that this would be her final chance to do so, Tatsuki began charging one last time. Before she could even cross half of the distance between her and Ikkaku, the bald shinigami turned around and noticed her. Apparently realizing that he would not be able to perform a counter-attack, he attempted to dodge...
But Tatsuki wouldn't let him, not this time. Feeling the power charging once more, she directed it to her legs, sprinting forward, hitting Ikkaku with a blazing roundhouse kick.
"Raiendan!" She cried, and as she hit him in the midsection, she felt a satisfying, dull smack as her leg connected. She could feel his innards, his bones, and the power she was sending right into them. She barely felt the pain anymore; she felt like she could break his neck, grind his bones to dust, splatter his stupid face all over the wall…
But even when the attack connected, Ikkaku barely budged – he just stood there, grinning at Tatsuki... before giving her a light, silent and approving nod, and collapsing.
Somehow – somehow, they had survived the fight, no more than survived: They had won.
As the emotional high begun to die down, Tatsuki let out a sigh of pure relief. Now she only had to somehow find a place where she and Ichigo could hide and recover. While she was close to collapsing herself, Tatsuki did her best to suppress this overwhelming feeling of weakness and exhaustion – if she collapsed now, it was all over. Tatsuki was already about to consider how she should go about carrying Ichigo... when a voice speaking up behind her reminded her that in the heat of battle and the light of their unexpected victory, they had forgotten something very, very important.
"Well, what do you know… the two of you actually went ahead and won. And of course, Ikkaku just had to knock out one of you, and beat the other up enough so that you can't even put up a fight anymore." Panicked, Tatsuki turned around. Yumichika slowly approached her, unsheathing his sword as he did so. They had just barely beaten one- and the other was unhurt, while she and Ichigo could barely stand.
"This won't be any fun..." Yumichika continued, letting out a sigh. "I guess I'll just knock you out, and let the other kid die. We were told to let at least one of you live, so I guess you'll do. Don't worry though, I won't cause you any unnecessary pain. That simply isn't beau-"
He never got to finish that sentence, as in that particular moment, a dark, bare foot slammed into the side of his neck with surgical precision. Yumichika managed to halfway turn around to face his attacker, before falling to the ground unconscious, his face carrying a look of dumb surprise.
"Heh, still got it." At first, Tatsuki didn't recognize her- but it took only one closer look. It was Yoruichi, who- astonishingly- had managed to sneak up on a high ranked officer and knocked him out cold in one hit. How good was she?
Tatsuki shook her head, and she realized why she hadn't recognized her at first- she was actually wearing clothes; a shinigami's shihakusho to be specific.
"Now, isn't that just typical? I leave the two of you alone for just a couple of minutes, and you're already getting yourselves killed... be glad that I brought along some help when I felt this fight going on." Yoruichi said, relief, concern and disapproval clearly audible in her tone.
Tatsuki wanted to give a snarky reply, or just outright thank Yoruichi for making it in time, but she could no longer fight the exhaustion. With relief washing over her, Tatsuki finally allowed herself the luxury of passing out.
Only seconds after Tatsuki passed, another shinigami passed around a corner: A young man with chin-length black hair, and a very hurried expression on his face. Upon the sight of the four unconscious shinigami on the ground in front of him, he let out a gasp. "Oh my god, it's really true! These Squad Eleven madmen really have attacked new recruits! How fortunate that you were able to knock them out!"
"Told you." Yoruichi said, doing her best not to snicker. It really had been an incredible stroke of luck to come across this Squad Four kid, Yamada Hanataro – with someone from the medical squad, dealing with the injuries that Ichigo and Tatsuki had received should be very possible. And better yet, he was gullible enough to belief a story told to him by a random shinigami who wouldn't even tell him their division, and didn't ask any questions...
"I am so sorry for doubting, Yoruichi-san! I'll be healing them right away!" The young shinigami declared eagerly.
"Y'know, I'm all for that, but would you mind if we did this somewhere else? It would be a bit problematic if these two were to wake up during that, and there's still these ryoka wandering about, you see."
"B-But I can't carry these two recruits all the way to the Squad Four barracks by myself!" Hanataro protested.
"Oh, don't worry, I know a safe place where we can go to for now. And really, the carrying part shouldn't be too much of a problem, either." Yoruichi said, picking Tatsuki up. "Come on, kid- let's get a move on. "
oOo
It was evening, not quite night, when Byakuya headed home. The average shinigami workday had ended, troops returning to their barracks for whatever leisure time they had. Normally, Byakuya would work overtime- there was something comforting about the routine of work, and there was nobody he trusted more to ensure a competent work output than himself, but just for today, he had allowed himself to leave on time. Ryoka were on the loose, but they would be found soon- the second division was on the case, and Byakuya did not envy those who ended up in their custody.
But that was really just an excuse. It was true, but it was an excuse still- the truth was that he needed to meditate, to take some time to collect his thoughts. Normally, he was the very image of stoic professionalism- or at least he'd like to think so; the men certainly seemed to think so- but lately, things… had worn on his mind.
Deep in thought, he wandered through the halls of his mansion, towards his study. Servants scuttled around here and there, going about their business, all of them avoiding him carefully. As usual, of course.
Only his head servant, the only one who had the right to approach him without much curtseying, addressed him as he came through.
"Shall I take your haori, oyakata-sama?" The man was elderly; he had been in their service since the time of his grandfather.
"It won't be necessary." Byakuya said shortly.
"Dinner will be served soon, oyakata-sama-"
"I will be in my study." Byakuya said, his tone making it clear that he was not to be disturbed.
The old servant bowed. "Understood. Shall I have some food sent to your room?"
"Later, perhaps." Byakuya said, walking past the old man. Finally, he was in his room, his most private quarters- not as used as a private room would usually be; he spent many nights at the division when needed.
Slowly, he eased out of his sandals, taking off his scarf and folding it neatly. Carefully, he hung his haori up on a rack- a servant would come by later for it, and it would be clean and ironed by tomorrow.
He looked around for a second. It was a fine room- it had many bookshelves, filled with classic literature, some of it even imported from the real world. A few paintings hung there too; they were from a happier time when his late wife Hisana had insisted on 'enriching' the atmosphere of the room. Thick rugs covered the floor- he had never much cared for them, but it was customary that a clan head have the most expensive luxuries, whether he made much use of them or not. A fairly spartan bed, a practical desk filled with papers- paperwork, calligraphy, correspondence from other nobles- and above it, a small portrait of her, of Hisana.
Sighing, he took a seat on the floor, legs crossed. Putting Senbonzakura, his treasured zanpakutou, in his lap, he closed his eyes and let himself relax, his mind wandering…
What a time it had been, these last few months. Rukia had finally managed to insist hard enough on an assignment in the world of the living, and now… now, she was facing a death sentence for violating the law.
She, his beloved little sister, the only thing Hisana had cared about more than himself. She, the little sister who his wife had spent years looking for before succumbing to a terminal illness, who he had adopted and taken in and sworn to protect, would now face death before his very eyes. He was calm, serene- but something inside him was aflame with anger that he wasn't angry, that he was just prepared to let this happen, that he would let the law step on his honour as a man and a noble.
It hadn't always been like this. He had once been emotional, furious, hotheaded; the he of his youth was not the same person he was now. Time had tempered him, but sometimes he felt like something had been lost along the way, especially after Hisana's death.
How he had loved her… it was a sensation unlike any he had known ever before, a thrill greater than the fear of death or the triumph of victory; it was something he had treasured every day. It was why Rukia mattered; she was all what was left of her wishes and dreams.
And he was going to let her die.
A small part of him roared at him furiously; he should take up his sword, break down her cell door, take her and run, kill everyone in his way…
But that was not who he was. His love mattered, Rukia mattered, but so did the law and the family he represented. He was not some selfish tyrant; he was the head of the most powerful noble family in the Soul Society. To become lawless over something as trivial as personal affection would be… unthinkable.
But then again, he could not let his promise to Hisana be besmirched either; trampled upon by circumstance.
It was clear to him- he hadn't thought much about it, but it was obvious. There was only one outcome that would satisfy honour.
He would watch Rukia die, convicted overly harshly for a petty crime, because the law was the law and the law is everything.
And then he would use his beloved Senbonzakura to commit seppuku.
His family would miss him greatly, the Gotei which he had devoted his life to would lose a great asset, his clan's status would be in jeopardy, and he would be dead- but honour would have been satisfied. That, and only that, was sufficient compensation for betraying his oath to Hisana.
It was quite simple, really.
oOo
Meanwhile, in the barracks of Squad Thirteen, today's work was still not quite done yet. For many years now, the Squad's captain, Ukitake Jushiro, had been suffering from an illness which, while usually not hindering him in doing his duties, did often enough claim its price, forcing him to take a rest even when there was work to do. Since people falling ill in Soul Society was exceptionally rare, little could done to do something against it, other than identifying it as tuberculosis, forcing Ukitake to simply live with the illness, whether he liked it or not. While normally, this presented not too big of a problem, the timing for this current issue couldn't have been worse. Ryoka in the seireitei – in all of his years in the Gotei Thirteen, he had never heard of something like this occurring. The result of the ensuing additional paperwork in combination with the time lost from his forced rest: Overtime.
Thankfully for Ukitake though, the two third seats of his division, Kotetsu Kiyone and Kotsubaki Sentaro had stayed around to help him with work, so that everything remained within the realm of the manageable. In any other division, this sort of task would also have fallen on the division's vice-captain, but unlike all the other divisions, the Thirteenth Squad currently had no vice-captain. The last man to hold this position, Shiba Kaien, the then head of the Shiba clan, had died several years ago in battle, and since then, there had been no one capable of filling the void that he left.
At the memory of his vice-captain, Ukitake sighed. In a way, the man was lucky to have died all these years ago... if he were still alive, the man would be having a hard time right now. After all, it had been he who had been more or less mentoring Kuchiki Rukia back when she first joined his division, showing her the way and being her friend... yes, if Kaien were still alive, the situation would most likely unsettle him even more than it did Ukitake, which was saying quite a bit.
To Ukitake himself, Kuchiki Rukia had always been a promising and reliable member of his division. He had been certain that given enough time, she would grow to become a worthy vice-captain to his Squad, and a good successor to Kaien. Ukitake still could not believe that she would have committed a crime that would justify her execution. When he had first heard of the sentence, Ukitake had protested, inquired how death would be a suitable treatment for the crime of creating a temporary substitute shinigami... but his protests fell on deaf ears, and were ignored by the Central Forty-Six, the noble council ruling the Gotei.
Aggravating as it might have been, Ukitake had no choice but to refrain from looking any further into the situation. The decision of the Central Forty-Six stood, and it would not be changed. The law was the law.
"...Taichou? Are you even listening?" The voice of Sentaro brought him back to reality. The third-seat had been reading various reports made by member of his Squad to him, when his thoughts had started to drift.
"I'm sorry, Sentaro, my mind must have slipped a bit." Ukitake said, in an apologetic tone that one would usually not expect a captain of the Gotei Thirteen to use in front of his subordinates. "Could you please read the report to me once more?"
"Of course, taichou." Sentaro said patiently. "We have several reports from unseated shinigami of our Squad having spotted the ryoka, though most of them just seem to be overreacting. We currently have little reliable information regarding the ryoka's actual location, but they were last seen heading towards the general area of the Squad Eleven barracks"
"When were they last seen?"
"Six hours ago. In all likeliness, the ryoka have already found a hiding place for this night by now. The only ones who might have a chance of finding them right now are Soifon-taichou's squad."
"I see..." Ukitake said quietly. That his squad's chances of actually finding the ryoka were rather slim barely surprised him: After all, in comparison to other squads, his squads notably lacked fierce fighters – which usually barely concerned Ukitake.
"And..." Sentaro meanwhile continued "here's also a report by one of the rookies from our squad, Shino. According to her, our sixth seat Kajomaru Hidetomo has been missing for over a day, without any traces in regards to his whereabouts... which means he went missing around the same time that the ryoka are believed to have entered the seireitei."
"You mean that they could have killed him."
"It is quite possible, taichou. Hidetomo has last been seen in the general area of the west gate – it could very well be that he spotted the ryoka, and they killed him to remain undetected."
Ukitake frowned. "I will not consider Hidetomo to be dead until his corpse is found. We will mark him as missing, not dead... once the ryoka have been caught, we can always ask Soifon-taichou to question them about him. I am pretty certain that she will easily be able to find out whether they have something to do with his disappearance..."
oOo
"Yer tellin me what now?"
Ayasegawa Yumichika was not in a good mood. His neck hurt like it had been hit by a speeding boulder- more like a landslide, actually- and he didn't even know who had done it, and the two punks he had been supposed to catch had slipped away, probably carried by whoever knocked him out- Ikkaku had done a number on them, no doubt.
And now he had to explain this to his captain, the infamous and very imposing Zaraki Kenpachi, most fearsome swordsman in the Gotei Thirteen.
It wasn't that he was afraid- his captain wasn't the kind to punish you for failure so long as you put your back into it and fought, but this was… awkward. Not only had they beaten Ikkaku- fucking unbelievable!- but they were gone. A chance at a major feather in their hat had turned into an embarrassing defeat, even moreso because at least Ikkaku had been beaten by tons of upfront damage, while he had been knocked out without more than a bruise to show for it.
"They beat Ikkaku. Hard fight, but those two punk ryoka beat him." He said, awkwardly rubbing his sore neck.
"You serious?" His captain said. His muscular, lean body, scarred face and torn haori made him look intimidating as always, but for now, he sounded almost confused.
"Dead serious. You could go look at Ikkaku- he's in intensive care right now. I doubt he'll be able to answer any questions any time soon, though, taichou."
His captain grinned. "That's the best news I had all day." Oh, shit… well, those two kids were goners now.
"If you can find them." Yumichika remarked. "Whoever knocked me out has been keeping them hidden so far."
"They've been heading inwards all this time." His captain said, grinning and shaking his head approvingly. "Yeah, all I need to do is head inwards even faster."
"Yay, Ken-chan's gonna fight!" Well, double shit. Little Yachiru, the only person Squad Eleven feared more than Unohana Retsu- fukutaicho of the squad as well as Kenpachi's adoptive daughter- had just popped out of seemingly nowhere. "Is there gonna be blood? Is there?"
"Ain't there always?" Kenpachi said, grinning as the little tyke- who Yumichika knew was over fifty years old in terms of actual years- climbed onto his back. "Yumichika, ya got one minute- tell me how Ikkaku lost."
"He underestimated them. He thought it was a light workout, and then they caught him by surprise. Several times. He underreacted. If he had been serious, he could have killed one quick and dealt with the other."
"Good man." Kenpachi said, nodding approvingly. "Now tell me the rest."
Yumichika sighed. He did not envy those two punks, not the least.
oOo
It was evening, and Uryu and Orihime were quite close now. They had managed to dodge most patrols, using side streets, warehouses, barracks, whatever they needed as cover when Uryu sensed a patrol coming. There had been some close calls, but they were, as of yet, undetected. Now, they approached a massive stairwell. It wasn't far now.
It struck Uryu just how massive this place was. They had walked all day, and were only now approaching their goal- granted, a lot of the time had been spent hiding, but it was nevertheless a large place, this Gotei Juusantai- maybe that was why they hadn't been found, because searching every nook and cranny in a place like this should logically take forever.
Shaking off these thoughts, Uryu focused. There was a lot to worry about, like how Ichigo and Tatsuki were faring, but right now, they needed to focus only on themselves.
And yet, Uryu could not help but to worry.
Just blast this Kurosaki and all the others! Before Uryu had met him, Tatsuki and Orihime, something like this would barely have mattered to him. If back then had been on this mission, he would have just went on without worrying... but then again, back then, he would not have risked his life to save that of a shinigami.
Uryu sighed. There was little denying that Ichigo, Tatsuki and Orihime had changed him... the only real question was whether it was for the better or not.
"Is something wrong, Ishida-kun?" Orihime asked, having without a doubt heard him sigh.
Walking just ahead of her towards the stairwell, Uryu turned around without slowing down. "No, it's alright."
At the sight of Orihime's face, Uryu could not help but to grin: She was still wearing the sunglasses that she had "borrowed" from Hasegawa. Uryu couldn't really bring himself to ask her about why she was carrying them around. It wouldn't exactly help their disguises, but by now, it was just silly to even try to keep them up.
"Ishida-kun..." Orihime interrupted his thoughts once more, pointing at something ahead of them both. With a bad feeling, Uryu turned around to see a shinigami with a very familiar hair color and style running towards them...
"Act normal!" Uryu hissed under his breath. This vice-captain guy – Renji? - didn't seem to have noticed them: He moreso seemed like he was hurrying to get to whichever place the patrols had headed off to.
Trying to ignore his own increasing nervousness, Uryu kept walking forwards calmly. Pineapple-hair was fifty meters away from the... thirty... ten... five-
He was past them. Uryu was already about to let out a sigh of relief, when he heard a voice from behind them.
"Wait a minute... don't I know you, glasses-kid?"
Author's Notes:Here's a few phrases that probably need some translating to them.
Oyakata-sama: Polite addressal from subordinate to superior, probably along the lines of "master".
Arimasu no Fuyu: Supposed to translate to "winter's breath".
Tsuki no Kizu: Literally "the wound in the moon".
Raiendan: "Lightning combo", or something along those lines.