• • •
"What's wrong? Just by having your name called, you already can't move. Hehe." Grand Fisher's voice lofted upwards, being carried towards my ears. I shook some more, as Rukia placed her arm around me. We peered from behind the trees to watch the battle below.
"You…Do you understand what you are doing now?"
"Hm?"
"This isn't the kind of place to bring my Mother's form into!" Ichigo bellowed, reading his Zanpakuto for another attack. However, he was frozen in place when Grand Fisher moved his lure directly in front of Ichigo.
The lure took on his Mother's appearance.
I closed my eyes, tugging on my Shihakusho sleeve as I bit my lip. I couldn't bare myself to watch. What if…
No, I wouldn't doubt Ichigo.
"Don't, Ichigo! Sheath the sword! Please, don't cut Kaa-San..!" A feminine voice cried out.
Blood splattering. That's the noise that I heard.
The sickening noise of blood slapping the ground.
I couldn't open my eyes and look. I didn't want to see where the blood had come from.
"I told you: 'anger can dull the blade.' It's over boy! So, let's pay respect! Out of all of those that I've encountered you were the youngest, the most thoughtless…and! The weakest Shinigami of all! Hehe!" Grand Fisher bellowed out, cackling out in maniacal laughter.
His laughter continued for a few seconds, only to quickly cease.
"Ah?"
"I finally…caught you!" Ichigo's voice rang out. "'Anger can dull the blade,' huh? That may be so… But, y'know, Grand Fisher, you've made one mistake! To defeat a bastard like you, that dulled blade is enough! It's over, Fisher! So let's pay respect! Out of all those I've encountered you were the oldest, the filthiest, and the most irritating Hollow of all!"
A sick ripping sound filled the air, causing me to clench my eyes further shut. Please, let it be the Hollow and not Ichigo…
I guess my prayers were answered; Grand Fisher's screams filled the battlefield.
"My arm..! My arm..! My body is..!"
There was a dull thump as the Hollow's body hit the ground. My eyes flew opened when I felt the first few raindrops collide with my face, causing me to gasp.
Grand Fisher was lying on the ground. So was Ichigo's sheath, which had fallen from his back. Ichigo himself was barely standing; he was using his Zanpakuto for support.
"Ichigo!" Rukia and I simultaneously screamed as we ran from behind the tree, getting closer to him.
"Yo… You're late…" Ichigo spoke, looking like a bloody mess as he leaned against his Zanpakuto. "I've already…cleaned it all up…"
"Che, idiot." I scoffed and then smiled. "The one who said not to interfere was you."
"Oh, yeah?" Ichigo smirked, "Hehe."
My eyes widened as I felt a pinprick of reiatsu flare.
"Ichigo, behind you!" I tried to warn him, but I was too late.
Ichigo managed to dodge the oncoming attack, but just barely. He had a deep gash under his eye that began to profusely bleed. I watched in horror as Grand Fisher was brought to his feet by the lure, then was reeled in towards it. Before our very eyes, Grand Fisher was sucked into the lure..!
"Hehe," The lure laughed; its appearance was different. This must have been when Ichigo's Mother looked like..! "Boy… You asked me when you first saw my form… Is this 'lure' a 'part' of me? In other words, you asked 'Are you the real body?' I'll answer that question… The answer is no! Both are the real body!" The lure started to lose some of its normal human characteristics. The poncho that it wore seemed to look more like the fur of Grand Fisher and its arms and legs transformed into his clawed feet. "If one part is injured, then I just jump to the other! And with me now in this body… There's no way you can cut me!"
"You..!" Ichigo seethed, pulling himself up to proper height. However, this caused his wounds to open more and more blood rushed out.
"Ichigo, stop!" I ordered, eyes wide. Was he really going to go after Grand Fisher in that state?
"She's right; this is too reckless!" Rukia added, also trying to get him to stop.
"Hehe! That's right, stop it!" Grand Fisher chuckled evilly. "A beast with developed vision is always controlled by that vision! Yes, even though you know who I am on the inside, you can't cut me while I'm in your Mother's form! And!" Grand Fisher jumped up into the air, "Even if you cut me, you can't follow me in that state!"
"Wait!" Ichigo yelled, looking up in the sky.
"Ichigo!" Rukia exclaimed, tightly clutching onto the front of his Shihakusho, "Enough already! Stop already!"
"Rukia's right!" I nodded, catching Ichigo's eyes. "You can't fight him anymore! This fight is over!"
"Not yet!" Ichigo yelled, looking directly into my eyes before scanning the sky once more. "He's still not dead..! I can still fight..! Still..!"
"Ichigo!" I yelled, watching as his eyes dulled and his body grew limp. He began to fall, and I ran over to Rukia to help her steady him. We both eased him down to the ground so we could get a better assessment of his injuries.
"His wounds are so…bad…" I murmured, as my eyes scanned over all of the blood that was pooling around him.
"A Shinigami's life force is their amount of reiatsu. To have not died from these wounds yet… This idiot's strength is really quite something."
"For being able to survive… Thank you, Ichigo." I murmured, feeling the tears finally welling up in my eyes and overflowing. I was thankful for the rain; it hid my tears. Although, I had the feeling that Rukia knew they were there. I was grateful she didn't say anything.
"Onee-Chan… Jun-Kun…" Kon called out, catching our attention. So he had followed us here as well.
"Rukia, Kon," I called out to get their attention. I felt both of their eyes shift to me as I stood up. "Make sure to keep this a secret. I haven't told anyone, absolutely no other soul, about this ability of my Zanpakuto. It takes a lot of my reiatsu because I haven't fully mastered it, but… Make sure that I get it right."
I smoothly withdrew Ankoku-Tatsu from her sheath, watching as the rain drops slid down the sleek metal.
"Sorera no ue ni kagekyasuto, Ankoku-Tatsu!" I called out, releasing my Zanpakuto into its Shikai state. [Cast your shadow over them, Ankoku-Tatsu!]
Kon watched with an amazed look as surrounding shadows flocked to my Zanpakuto and covered the silver of the blade until it was a midnight black. Ankoku-Tatsu's golden hilt glowed in the dim light before fading to a deep crimson color. At the hilt, a long and tattered red ribbon began to form.
I took a deep breath, "Iyasu Tatsu!" [Dragon Healing]
I channeled my reiatsu into Ankoku-Tatsu, and the blade seemed to glow an eerie black color. However, my eyes brightened due to my resolve; they began to glow a fiery white color. Ichigo's body also seemed to faintly glow white.
Before everyone's eyes, the major wounds on Ichigo's body began to stich themselves back together, from the inside out. I was mainly focusing on the major wound in his stomach; that would be fatal if he went back into his body before it was healed. His minor injuries could wait.
I bit my lip as I felt my reiatsu level decrease. I just had to hold on for a bit longer… I could already see some of the color come back to Ichigo's face!
"Kaijo!" [Release!] I yelled, as a blindingly white flash of light illuminated the area. Everyone had to cover their eyes from the sight. When they opened their eyes again, the shadows were slowly creeping away from my Zanpakuto. I sheathed Ankoku-Tatsu, feeling a bit light headed from using so much of my reiatsu.
Before I knew it, I could feel my knees hit the ground, and I caught myself with my hands. The world swam for a moment, before I blinked it all away. Rukia and Kon ran over to my side, helping me sit up.
"Are you alright?" Rukia asked, eyes wide at my display of power. "I could sense the vastness of that spiritual pressure… You used a lot of it for that technique!"
"I'm fine." I said, weakly panting a bit. "That technique just takes a lot out of me. It's Ankoku-Tatsu's ability to use herself… Whenever I try to use it, it always takes so much reiatsu…"
"That was amazing! How did you do that?!" Kon asked, eyes wide as his hands were still on my shoulders, steadying me.
"As I said, it's one of my Zanpakuto's abilities. It's called Iyasu Tatsu, otherwise known as Dragon Healing. It's a special accelerated healing that most dragons use." I explained, looking at Kon with a smile. "But, it's really hard to train with it anyways, because I'm never surrounded with injured people. And people are very different from dragons."
It was quiet for a few minutes, as I tried to get what little reiatsu I had left under my control. Then, we could hear Ichigo coming to and regaining consciousness.
"Are you alright?!" We all asked, as we gathered around him. Kon had helped me crawl over to him, supporting my weight. Ichigo blinked at us, before slowly sitting up.
"Y-Yeah," Ichigo stuttered, his hands ghosted over his chest. He couldn't feel his injuries at all! "I do feel a lot better."
"Good. Then get back in your body so we can go. It is still raining." I said, smirking a bit.
Ichigo numbly nodded, not seeming to mind my blunt language for once. Standing up, Ichigo walked to my side because Kon was still supporting my weight. He glared at the Mod-Soul, before slapping his hands off of me before he entered his body.
I rolled my eyes and shakily stood up, leaning against a nearby tree as he rejoined with his body.
"It..! Hurts!" Ichigo screamed as he shot straight up, the cuts reopening on his face once he entered his human body.
"Don't make a big fuss." Rukia ordered as she grabbed Kon's pill form and stuffed it back in the lion plushie. "Wounds received in your soul state will show up when you return to your body! You ought to know that already!"
"But up 'til now, you returned me to my body after healing all of my wounds…" Ichigo winced, bringing his hand up to touch the cut spreading across his cheek.
"You should be grateful to Jun-Kun for healing you!" Kon shouted, getting up in Ichigo's face. "Your wounds were so bad that Rukia-Onee-Chan couldn't heal them, so Jun-Kun used up almost all of her energy healing your stupid wounds! Jun-Kun probably can't even move without wobbling!"
"Kon!" I shriek, glaring at the plushie. So much for that being kept a secret..!
"You…healed me?" Ichigo asked, turning to stare at me.
"Y-Yeah, but don't worry. It was nothing." I answered, shoving myself off of the tree to show him that I was alright, only for me to wobble and Rukia ran over to my side to steady me. I rolled my eyes; I hated when I was in this state. I was utterly useless..! "Paku, you can come out now!"
Before anyone could blink, my body dove towards me from out of the nearby woods. She clung onto me in a death grip, hugging me like I had almost died. Paku then let go of me and bowed, smiling.
"Paku..?" Ichigo asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep; she's a Mod-Soul that Urahara gave me. Actually, she was a gikongan first, but he tinkered with her. That means she's now classified as a Mod-Soul." I explained, entering my body. I took the bright green pill from my mouth as I stretched. "I named her Paku because it's short for Kaizo Konpaku. You named Kon, so I decided to name mine 'Paku.' Besides, it was cuter than anything else. And I keep her in this cute little panda plushie!"
I dug through my bag, pulling out the panda plushie that Ururu had given me not too long ago. I inserted the bright green pill into its mouth and watched as she sprung alive and hugged me again. I laughed, returning the hug.
"I'm so glad you're safe, Jun-Sama! You had me worried!" Paku exclaimed, burring her head in the crook of my neck.
"As you can see, she worries about me constantly. She's like a Mother figure." I explained, lightly patting her head. "You know I'm not going to die yet! And, oh!"
I remembered something, and dug around in my bag once more. My hand curled around the smooth outside of a cardboard box, and I nodded while pulling it out.
"Catch," I advised, throwing a box of Band-Aids at Ichigo. He fumbled with it, almost not catching it. Maybe I should have given him a little bit more of a warning..? Nah. "Put those on; they'll help."
"Thanks," Ichigo mumbled, opening up the box and pulling out a couple of the bandages. "I lost…didn't I?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, as he tossed the box back at me. I placed them back in my bag and shivered a bit from the cool rain. "He ran. And nobody died today. There no mistaking the fact that you won."
"But, he isn't dead…" Ichigo murmured, looking down. "I-"
"Ichigo?" I asked, wondering what got him so depressed all of a sudden.
"Sorry; I'll be a little while." He spoke, standing up and walking away. Without looking back, he threw a wave to me from behind his back.
Che. Same old Ichigo, alright.
"Well, I'll be heading home then." I said, stretching a bit. "I don't want to get any worse than I am. I'll see you guys later!"
I waved to Rukia and Kon as I walked off in the rain.
Things might finally start getting interesting. There's nothing I can do but play the part that I am supposed to. I trust Urahara, and it seems like he has something big planned…
Well, I guess only time will tell what everything has in store.