• • •
"What the hell's going on?!"
I seethed, cursing, as I slashed down yet another Hollow.
That makes thirteen since I've left Urahara's not too long ago.
"Just what did you two do; Ichigo and Ishida..?" I muttered, hacking through yet another Hollow that had tried to land a sneak attack on my back.
Rukia seemed like she didn't know what was going on, either. Not that it helped much; I had to leave her to help take out these Hollows. She had assured me that she could take care of herself this time.
But, I still hope that she was alright. Last time she had to face a Hollow, it didn't turn out too well. Remember Shrieker? That was the name of the Hollow that had all of those leech bombs. Rukia couldn't exactly handle it on her own. However, more time has passed since then. So, theoretically, Rukia should have gained at least some of her powers back.
Growling, I jumped on top of a nearby rooftop. It was easier to navigate through the town that way; and it was easier for me to sense Hollow reiatsu if I was up in the air, closer to them.
What about those familiar bursts of reiatsu not too long ago? If I was correct, which I think I am, then they had to belong to Chad and Orihime. I had to curse myself for not realizing that their reiatsu was increasing over time when I first felt them release it. Then again, they were constantly around Ichigo. He just oozed reiatsu, so they could have been affected by that. Not to mention all of the recent incidents that they were involved in themselves…
Now I couldn't really get a good sense on their reiatsu; I couldn't pinpoint their location. I could sense that they were still alive, which was good enough for me at the moment.
Feeling another Hollow nearby, I flash stepped over to the spider like Hollow to take it down. It evaded, but just barely. Grinning, I flash stepped behind its head. Focusing reiatsu to my hand, I aimed at the back of the Hollows head.
"Hado #31: Shakkaho~!"
The familiar red blast of reiatsu launched from my palm, effectively taking the Hollows whole head off; even though I had hastily skipped the proper incantation.
"Phew," I exhaled, bringing the sleeve of my Shihakusho up to wipe the beads of sweat off of my forehead. This was an exhausting work out; I hadn't been pushed to this extreme level of exhaustion since… I didn't really remember when.
I had discarded my cell phone long ago, opting to just sense around for Hollow and terminate them that way. When I just looked at my phone, I'd get lost as I targeted a certain dot. I was much more efficient this way. Besides, I felt another presence nearby… Oh, joy.
"KON?!"
That was Rukia; I'd know her shrieks from anywhere.
But, even so, I flash stepped to where the pair was. It took all I had not to face plant at the scene in front of me when I got there.
It had appeared that Kon had taken over Ichigo's body, yet again, and had tackled Rukia. Rukia, for defense, held both of his wrists, one in each hand, and had her foot under Kon's chin. Not only did that position sound painful, but she was pushing him further back, making it look like a difficult yoga pose that they'd just mastered.
"Ack! It's breaking! Breaking..!" Kon cried out as Rukia bent him back even further. "Are you sure about this..?! This is Ichigo's body! It's breaking! I'm starting to look like a nine mark~!"
"You know, that is probably one of the most provocative poses that you two could choose." I tisked, observing from their side as I stood with my arms crossed. I shook my head, grinning. "Humans can still see you two; now, I wonder what they'd think if they saw you two in this position..?"
Rukia quickly released Kon's wrists, jumping up and trying to look innocent. Kon grinned, happy to be free.
"You saved me, Jun-Kun~!" He gushed, throwing his arms around me in a huge hug. Before I could yell at him to let me go, he picked me up and began twirling me around.
"Kon~!" I wailed, not taking well to all of the spinning from this height. "Put me down!"
To my surprise, he actually listened to me for once. My sandaled feet lightly pressed down onto the concrete of the street, so I blinked and looked up at Kon. He still had me in his arms, but he was staring off at something.
"Oh, good… Somehow this place is also safe and sound…"
I tensed, remembering that voice. Kon's arms tightened around me, feeling like a cage. He was trying to keep me in place. He probably knew what I'd do to Ishida if I managed to free myself.
"What are you talking about?!" Kon yelled, glaring at Ishida. "You planted the seed yourself! You started the fight by trying to kill everyone in town!"
"So, I assumed correctly; you had everything to do with this, didn't you?" I asked, peering over at Ishida. Kon's arms were wrapped around my back, but I could still rotate my neck. I could glare at the Quincy all I wanted to.
"Yes. The one who took over Kurosaki's body, the one holding you in place, said it correctly." Ishida spoke, his eyes meeting mine. "This is the fight that I started. However, I will not allow a single person in this town to die! Even if Kurosaki Ichigo dies… I will protect the people in this town with my life! With him, and you… with Shinigami watching, I will keep protecting everyone from Hollows! If I cannot do that, then this fight has no meaning!"
"This fight holds no meaning anyway," I muttered, glaring. "Look at your own hands. They're bleeding from the constant firing from your bow, aren't they? I think it would be safe for me to say that you can't even kill a Hollow with one strike anymore, can you?"
"That's none of your concern, Kokawa." Ishida coolly spat, his eyes narrowing from behind his glasses.
"What are you going after..?" Rukia asked Ishida, eyebrows knit together.
That's when I sensed it. The Hollow that Kon had 'killed' hadn't really been killed. It had merely been lying there.
"Kon, let me go!" I ordered, looking up at him. He stood there, not comprehending what was happening; he still held me close to him.
Ishida cursed, pulling back his bow again and aiming at the Hollow that was located behind us. Kon slowly turned his head, eyes widening at the tall Hollow that hovered over us. However, lucky for us, Ichigo managed to appear and slice it down.
"I finally found you… Ishida!" Ichigo exclaimed, feet hitting the pavement in front of Kon and I.
"Kurosaki..!" Ishida muttered, eyes narrowing at the strawberry.
"To be honest, I really want to get to the part where I send you to tears, but… Before I get to you, the first thing I've gotta do is trash this guy!"
Everyone blinked in confusion, wondering what Ichigo was talking about. With determination in his cinnamon eyes, Ichigo stomped over towards me and Kon, as we shared a look of confusion with each other.
Ichigo's arms wrapped around my waist, tugging on me until he finally managed to pry me out of Kon's arms. Glaring at the mod-soul, Ichigo tucked me under his arm. He then grabbed a fistful of Kon's shirt, pulling him so that they were eye to eye.
"Kon! What the hell do you think you're doing holding Jun like that?!" Ichigo yelled, shaking his body. "Hey! Tell me, stupid! And another thing! What the hell took you so long to get Rukia's cell phone?!"
"Why are you blowing up at me first?!" Kon screamed, gesturing towards Ishida. "I should come after you blow up at him!"
"Shut up!" Ichigo roared, still shaking Kon. I was swinging from under his other arm, whimpering. I felt like a rag doll being thrown around. When was he going to sit me down?! "It's your fault for not letting go of Jun and not bringing back Rukia's cell phone! Jun has a phone, too! Hers would have worked just as fine! But, no! I wound up running all over town!"
"It's not like I knew any of that!" Kon argued back, "But isn't it a good thing?! Running around a lot relieved your stress!"
"Huh?!" Ichigo blinked, "It's not in my nature to build up stress!"
"Liar!" Kon exclaimed, shoving his finger in Ichigo's face. "What kind of unstressed guy would keep his eyebrows knit together like that?!"
"Um, guys?" I questioned, raising my voice. "Can you let me down?!"
Ichigo either didn't hear my request or he blatantly ignored it.
"You just about dedicated your soul to Rukia! You'd both be of one heart and one mind! If that's so, then you should be able to find her in one shot!" Ichigo argued.
"Yeah! I could find her! Someone like me can find Onee-Chan by scent alone!" Kon argued back, pointing to his nose.
"How… how rude!" Rukia exclaimed, eyes wide as she ran over to us and joined the argument. "My body doesn't smell that bad!"
"Give it a rest, you guys! I am your enemy! This isn't time for infighting!" Ishida yelled, trying to break up our huge argument. However, his words fell upon deaf ears; nobody paid him any attention.
"Of course you don't smell that bad! It's a sweet, heavenly scent! Well, not as much as Jun-Kun's scent, but it's still good!" Kon exclaimed, only for Rukia to glare at him.
"Jerk!" Rukia yelled, punching Kon straight in the nose.
"Gyaaa~!" Kon howled out in pain, clutching his nose. I struggled to get out of Ichigo's grip, managing to succeed because he was in shock that Rukia would actually haul off and punch Kon while he was in his body.
"Rukia, you broke his nose!" I exclaimed, pushing myself up to the tips of my toes as I lightly touched Kon's nose. Blood was gushing out and it looked crooked.
"Agh! Damn you, Rukia! That's my body! Think about that before you punch!" Ichigo yelled, turning towards the dark haired powerless Shinigami. His eyes turned back to watching me try and calm Kon down, before widening, "Look! It's bleeding!"
"Damn you, Ichigo! Don't blame Onee-Chan for this!" Kon exclaimed, glaring up at the strawberry. "This is my fault!"
"You got that right!"
"If you gotta punch someone, punch me!"
"Ogyaa~!"
"Agh! Oh hell, I didn't mean to..!"
"You're always so-"
"Shut the hell up, Kurosaki Ichigo!" Ishida yelled, readying his bow for dramatic effect as he pointed it at said strawberry. "I am your opponent!"
However, because his fingers were all bloody, his grip on his bow slipped.
"Oh no-"
Ichigo was able to sense the arrow flying towards him. With a speed that I didn't know he possessed, he easily deflected the arrow and shattered it with his Zanpakuto.
"That's right. You get it. This is a battle between you and me." Ichigo said, only to gesture to himself with his thumb. "So don't tell me how many Hollows you've defeated and all that crap! We're going to settle this, just you and me! Got it, Ishida?!"
Ishida's silence seemed to do nothing more than irritate Ichigo.
"…Say something, Ishi-"
"Oh! Hey look, Ichigo! What is that?!" Kon asked, wide eyed as he turned around to look at whatever Ishida had his gaze trained on.
"The cracks in the sky," I gasped, "They're gathering to one spot!"
"Wha?" Ichigo asked, confused. He'd never seen anything like that happen before.
"That's not all," Ishida muttered, quickly turning his head to look around. "Look carefully!"
"The Hollows?!" Ichigo exclaimed, "They're all heading for that point!"
"Damn," Ishida cursed, twitching his bloody fingers.
I wasn't expecting Ishida to draw back his bow once more, trying to fire off arrows at the hoard of Hollows. Normally, I would expect for that to happen, but not with his fingers in the shape that they were.
"Quit it, Ishida! There's too many!" Ichigo exclaimed, "After we think of a strategy…"
"What… are you afraid, Kurosaki?" Ishida questioned, releasing another arrow. This arrow successfully pierced a Hollow; however, it didn't affect any of the others. They were all still converging at the crack in the sky.
"Jerk," Ichigo seethed, angered at the Quincy.
"If you're afraid, you can watch from here! I will win this battle!" Ishida yelled, taking to running straight towards the convergence point in the sky. "Over here, you Hollows! The last Quincy, Ishida Uryuu, is your opponent!"
"The last Quincy?" Ichigo asked, turning to look at me. "What's he saying?"
"Ishida is referring to the fall of the Quincy." I explained, "Even though it happened well over two-hundred years ago."
"Wha..?!" Ichigo questioned, gaping at me.
"All of the surviving Quincy hate Shinigami." I said, crossing my arms. "Well, I should say most, 'cause I'm excluded from them. But the source of that hatred is their two-hundred year old fall. The Quincy of two-hundred years ago were destroyed by Shinigami hands."
Ichigo's eyes widened dramatically. I shook my head, sighing.
"Don't look so surprised. It was a difficult choice for the Shinigami. They… had to wipe out the Quincy." Rukia added in, trying to stick up for the Shinigami. "That was in order to prevent the destruction of the world."
"Shinigami…destroyed the Quincy?" Ichigo asked, looking back and forth between Rukia and me, a dumbfounded look on his face.
"That's right. There were no other options." Rukia clarified, "It was in order to prevent the destruction of the world. In Soul Society, those who belong to the order of Shinigami are commonly called 'balancers.' The amount of souls in this world and in Soul Society are constantly being evened out. Do you know why? If that is not done, the balance between the two worlds will collapse. It will beckon their mutual destruction! Our jobs as Shinigami are to regulate the amount of souls in both worlds. Souls released from Soul Society are watched over by Shinigami and born as living things in this world. Souls that die in this world are sent back to Soul Society by Shinigami. Hollows are no exception to that. And the whole cycle of souls has been entrusted to the Shinigami, Soul Society knew the quantity of souls, and they could make adjustments with this world. However, the Quincy appeared then."
I sighed, sadly shaking my head and closing my eyes. I felt Ichigo place a comforting hand on my shoulder, but I didn't move to shake him off. I just stood there in silence as I listened to this story once more.
"The Quincy completely extinguish Hollows! That means that souls who come to reality don't return to soul society! The souls would increase only on the side of reality! Meaning that the world inclines toward the side of reality… and Soul Society will spill over into reality! A chaos that mixes life and death. In other words, the destruction of the world. Since they first confirmed the existence of the Quincy, many years passed as Soul Society continued to appeal to them. 'Let the Shinigami cope with all the Hollows,' they said. However, due to their obstinacy, Quincy's didn't try to accept that. As this was going on, the Quincy continued to grow in number. The cycle of souls continued to be in disarray. It was moving towards impending world destruction. And so, the decision was made to wipe out the Quincy."
Rolling my eyes, I made up my mind; I'd heard enough.
I brought my hand up to rest on Ichigo's, which was still sitting on my shoulder. I pat it, gaining his attention. "You can stay here and listen further, but I'm going to go ahead. I have to make sure that idiot Ishida doesn't go and kill himself."
"I'll go with you." Ichigo responded, looking deep into my eyes; probably looking for any trace of…depression? Sadness? I'm not sure what he was looking for, but he seemed satisfied enough.
"Yeah; let's go kick some sense into that Quincy…" I muttered, crossing my arms and glaring in the direction that Ishida had taken off in.
Ichigo actually laughed at my words, shaking his head.
Hey, if his family was dysfunctional, then mine could be dysfunctional, too!
"Yeah; let's go kick Ishida's ass."
Ichigo grabbed my wrist, his fingers able to completely circle around my limb as he pulled me with him. I laughed at his eagerness; I would easily let him beat some sense into Ishida.
Neither of us noticed when his hand slipped down my wrist, connecting us hand to hand.