• • •

First, Second, and Fourth Fukutaicho's obeyed the order and began the chase after Renji and Rukia.

"Oh no, you don't." I seethed, using my Shunpo to appear between them and Renji's retreating figure. I grinned up at Ichigo, seeing his eyes widen from my speed. "Don't worry, Ichigo. I've got this one."

All three of the Fukutaicho halted, eyes widening in surprise at my speed. They hadn't seen me approach, so no wonder they were so surprised.

"Out of our way, little girl!" The Second Division Fukutaicho, Omaeda something, if I remembered correctly.

I blinked up at them all, rolling my eyes as I then crouched down into a defensive hand to hand combat position. "No can do. I can't let you guys chase after Rukia."

That seemed to anger all three of the Fukutaicho, seeing as how they all withdrew their Zanpakuto.

"Hashire, Itegumo!" Kotetsu-Fukutaicho ordered, releasing her Shikai. {Run, Frozen Cloud}

The large Second Division Fukutaicho growled, releasing his Shikai as well. "Buttsubuse, Gegetsuburi!" {Crush, Five Heads}

"Ugate, Gonryomaru!" The First Division Fukutaicho commanded, releasing his Zanpakuto into Shikai as well. {Pierce, Solemn Spirit}

Lowly whistling, I giggled a bit. "Three Fukutaicho all with their Zanpakuto released going after me? I feel honored!"

"Stop fooling around and release your Zanpakuto! We'll kill you either way and then go after that criminal!" Omaeda-Fukutaicho ordered, trying to look threatening by spinning the large spikey-ball on a chain that was the released form of his Zanpakuto.

"Listen to him and release me already, Junko!" Ankoku-Tatsu's voice commanded echoing throughout my ears.

My eyes narrowed; I knew that she'd be mad at me for this later, but I had to refuse her order. I couldn't release her here. It was still too close to noon. During noon the sun was directly overhead and there were hardly any shadows to work with. It'd be much too difficult to release Anko here and now. I didn't even know if I'd have enough shadows to work with to stop them in their tracks. But, I could take them down without releasing my Zanpakuto. This way would be much more fun: hand to hand versus Shikai.

I smirked up at the Fukutaicho's, scoffing a bit. "No thanks; my released Zanpakuto is only for people stronger than the likes of you."

"Why you-" The Second Division member began, running towards me with the spiked ball in his hands.

Biting my lip in concentration, I tried to focus on my reiatsu.

I knew now wasn't probably the best time for experimental attacks, but it was probably the only ace up my sleeve in a time like this.

No, I wasn't using my Quincy bow; that charm was now on a necklace around my neck considering that the bracelet was broken when Sentaro found it attached to the same silk pillow my Zanpakuto had been tied to. No, this was something that I had been trying to do on my own whenever I had spare time to train.

My hand was soon enveloped in a bright red reiatsu, not that anyone else could see it besides myself. If Anko couldn't see it while I was training, then I doubt anyone else would be able to either. I'm guessing that it more like me mentally seeing my own reiatsu focusing around my hand, but that's probably my only guess. If I couldn't see it like I could, then I wouldn't have been able to even train with this attack.

As Omaeda-Fukutaicho drew closer, I dunked and struck my left hand out, slamming it into his gut.

"Ooof!"

With a muted thud, the large Fukutaicho hit the ground, half of his Zanpakuto crushed. Probably most of his internal organs were smashed as well.

I found out that I could use the power of my reiatsu to dramatically increase the destructive force behind my hand to hand combat skills. Sometimes it was still iffy, considering that you have to have the correct balance of reiatsu at the moment of impact. If you had too much, the attack failed. If you had too little reiatsu focused, then it would pretty much be ineffective. The trick was to find the balance between both. And not only that, but you also had to release the power in the reiatsu the same moment the impact was made, so timing was also crucial.

The First Division Fukutaicho, whose name still escapes me, charged at me from behind. I could sense his attack, so I hastily turned around and used my left hand to punch the ground while I still had a good deal of reiatsu still surrounding my hand. The impact rocked the ground, splitting it open like a fault line. The Fukutaicho lost his footing, causing him to fall.

My sandal clad foot stomped on his hand, causing him to release the grip he had on his released Zanpakuto. With a swift kick, the Zanpakuto was now across the field.

He charged toward me barehanded one he regained his footing, probably thinking that my first few strikes were just flukes; after all, I was small so I couldn't possibly cause that much damage, could I?

I crudely caught his right wrist when he aimed a punch at my face, while I used my left to land a punch to his gut, in a similar fashion to the one that I had used on Omaeda-Fukutaicho.

"Damn," I cursed, realizing that I didn't time the landing correctly so my attack didn't work. The Fukutaicho stared down at me, his lips twitching into a smirk. I smirked as well, thrusting my leg up and kicking him under the chin and forcing his head back.

He hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.

When his body actually connected with the ground, I turned my attention towards the last standing Fukutaicho: Kotetsu's older sister. The woman was much taller than I was, closer to the height of the rest of the guys I was used to being around. However, her height didn't make her look tough; it actually made her seem even more meek and frail.

"Kotetsu-Fukutaicho," I began, my head tilting up so I could meet her eyes. I could see the uncertainty shining in them. "I don't want to fight you. I know you're more adept at healing rather than fighting. So, please, stand down."

The gray haired woman blinked, looking like a scared doe. Her eyes darted away from my own for a moment, looking over at the collection of Taicho's that were still standing around. Determination filled her eyes as they landed on Unohana-Taicho, making her shake her head and raise her released Zanpakuto into an offensive stance. "Sorry, but I can't do that. My orders were to follow Abarai and get Kuchiki."

"I guess you leave me no choice." I sighed, craning my neck to the side and letting it pop once. I rotated my shoulders, lowering myself into a purely defensive hand to hand stance.

However, she didn't expect for me to disappear right before her eyes by using Shunpo. That meant that she was caught completely off guard when I appeared behind her, where she was full of openings. Since she was the Fukutaicho of the Fourth Division, and Kotetsu-San-Seki's sister, I decided to be generous and only hit one of the pressure points on her back to knock her down. It probably wouldn't last long, but hopefully we'd be gone before she regained consciousness.

I felt a familiar reiatsu behind me, targeting me.

Without even looking at the fist aimed at my back, I easily dodged and caught their wrist. "Nice try, Ichigo."

The carrot-top only laughed a bit when I released his wrist. "So, it wasn't a fluke. You have gotten stronger."

"Of course I did!" I huffed, mock glaring up at him as I placed my hands on my hips. "What did you think? That'd I'd be some damsel in distress and get stuck in jail?"

I chuckled at the irony of my own words; what Ichigo didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Hopefully he'd never figure out that I got stuck in jail and had to rely on my Taicho to get me out.

"No, I just don't know what to expect from you." Ichigo truthfully replied, looking down at me with his big cinnamon shaded eyes. "I know you've gotten hurt; I can see the bandages wrapped around your arms and the one on your cheek."

"I-It was nothing." I stuttered a bit, feeling my cheeks warming up when one of his large hands rose and traced the bandage that was on my right cheek. "Especially compared to what you've been though."

My eyes narrowed up at him, catching him off guard as I rose up and smacked the back of his orange head. "You had me worried! Do you know how many times I felt your reiatsu burst?! How many close called fights were you in?!"

The strawberry heartily laughed, grinning down at me. "They were nothing, much. I got stronger with each fight. But, it's not over yet."

Ichigo's cinnamon eyes flashed, looking over towards the Taicho's. Before my eyes, the strawberry's sword was drawn and clashed against Kuchiki-Taicho's much thinner Zanpakuto.

"I told you: I can see your every step, Kuchiki Byakuya!" Ichigo announced, smirking at the dark haired Sixth Division Taicho.

"Why?" Kuchiki-Taicho asked, startling both of us. "Why do you…so persistently…try to save Rukia?"

Cinnamon eyes narrowed at the question. "…I'm the one who should be asking questions. Aren't you Rukia's older brother?! Why aren't you trying to help Rukia at all?!"

"What a pointless question..!" Kuchiki lightly scoffed, as he adverted his deep gray gaze away from Ichigo for a moment. "Even if it tell you the answer to that question… You wouldn't be able to understand. It is useless to continue this empty dialogue. Here I come."

Both of the men charged towards each other, metal clashing against metal. They both were forced back because of their equal strength.

Kuchiki's cold gray eyes narrowed. "It looks like there's only one way to end this. Kurosaki Ichigo, I will kill you. Then, with my own hands, I will carry out Rukia's execution."

I gasped at his words, not realizing that he was actually that cold hearted. Would he really kill Rukia himself? Even if he was a Taicho… He couldn't possibly be expected to do that just because he was a Taicho. No, this had to be personal.

"No, that's not going to happen." Ichigo stated, bringing up his left hand to untie the cape that still draped around him. "I came here to make sure of that."

At that moment, the wind kicked up and made the fabric of the cape billow as he ripped it off of him. I gaped at his transformation; half of his Shihakusho top was missing, although most of his flesh was covered by bandages wrapped all around him. Most of the left side of the top was missing, but he had a black strap tightly crisscrossing down his arm.

His muscles looked way more defined than they were before, I noted with a gulp.

"Jun," Ichigo began, looking behind at me and meeting my gaze. "Steer clear of this area for a while. This is my fight. You can try and catch up with Renji and Rukia. They'll probably need the help."

"Alright, I got it." I nodded, sighing. I had really wanted to see him in battle myself; he seemed so much stronger than he had before. All of those battles must have helped him out.

Ichigo tossed the cape at me, smirking before he turned towards the Taicho. "I mean it, Jun. No sneaking around to try and watch."

Chuckling, I shook my head and began walking towards the base of the cliff. "I get it, I get it! I'm going now! You better focus on the fight!"

"I will," The strawberry promised, not even looking behind him to see me walk away. It didn't bother me; I knew he was a fighter. If anyone could defeat Kuchiki-Taicho, it'd be him.

Running back towards the others, I saw that another commotion was in full swing. I could hear yells and harsh words, but I didn't know who they were coming from.

"Soi-Fon!"

Wait, I easily recognized that voice! That was Ukitake's yell; it was rare that he would raise his voice, but you would remember it when he did. And if he was yelling, then I knew something had to have been going on. I paced myself to run faster, towards the figures near the edge of the cliff.

The closer I got, the more I could figure out what was going on. Ukitake and Kyoraku's reiatsu felt faint; they were no longer near the hill anymore. Soi-Fon looked like she was stepping on someone, there was also another body lying on the ground not too far away from them.

I was close, almost close enough, when a familiar reiatsu approached and Soi-Fon vanished off the side of the cliff.

"That had to be…Yoruichi…" I mumbled, halting and looking over in the direction the two had disappeared in. It had been years since I had felt her reiatsu like that, but I was sure that it was her.

My gaze drifted back around me, noting that even the Sotaicho was gone now. In the back of my mind, I think it registered that he probably chased after Ukitake and Kyoraku, not Renji and Rukia; or at least, that's what I had hoped. Then I noticed Sentaro-San-Seki and Kiyone-San-Seki on the ground. Gasping, I began running towards them to see if I could help them in anyway.

Sentaro looked knocked out; his injuries didn't look severe at all. It was Kiyone that had me worrying. She was wheezing and gasping for breath, even though she had lost consciousness. Soi-Fon-Taicho must have broken a couple of her ribs…and there could have been the possibility of one of those broken ribs puncturing a lung. Although, that would probably be one of the worst case scenarios.

Needless to say, I hoped that it wasn't a worst case scenario.

I wouldn't be able to do much if it was, in any case.

But I couldn't just stand around and do nothing. I had to help somehow. I couldn't help but feel like it was partly my fault; she was probably worried about her sister, seeing as how all of the Fukutaicho had rushed after Renji and Rukia escaping.

Wordlessly, I sat down next to her. In my mind, I started going over the words to the only healing Kido that I knew, hoping that it would be enough to help her until real aid could come. When my hands began glowing a bright green I sighed in relief, immediately placing my hands over her lungs and broken ribs.

Kiyone-San-Seki's reiatsu wasn't too depleted, so I was easily able to restore and stabilize her reiatsu before I began to heal her injuries. I didn't have any medical training, so I wasn't sure what was going on inside; I had only healed external injuries. Internal injuries were on a completely different level. So, I closed my eyes and tried as best as I could to focus on her internal injuries.

"I'm pretty sure she has a least a couple of broken ribs…" I muttered to myself, forcing my closed eyes to close even more.

"You are correct, Kokawa-San."

I gasped, jumping from the sudden sound of my name. "U-Unohana-Taicho..!"

The Fourth Division Taicho tentatively smiled at me, her long black braid swinging a bit in the wind. Her deep blue eyes left my own icy ones, landing on the injured Third Seat in front of me. "Thank you for trying to help heal Kotetsu-San-Seki. I will take it from here."

"Of course," I weakly muttered, feeling my eyes widen once they landed on the huge light green colored…monster next to her. As if she wasn't frightening enough…

"Minazuki," Unohana-Taicho chirped, turning towards the monster and smiling at it. "If you would, please."

The…thing's… one eye blinked, and I swear it looked like it nodded it's head. The manta-ray like creature wobbled forward; it actually had bird like legs hidden under itself. Its tongue shot out of its mouth, wrapping fully around Kiyone and swallowing her whole.

"W-Wait..!" I exclaimed, rising to my feet and holding a hand out. I wasn't sure what I could do; I didn't want to go in after her.

"Do not worry, Kokawa." Unohana smiled down at me, raising a hand to rest on the giant green monster. "Minazuki is my Zanpakuto. All of the Fukutaicho that you fought are also inside of Minazuki's stomach, healing."

Her words were true enough, only Kotetsu-Fukutaicho was on top of Unohana's Zanpakuto creature. Maybe it was because she was the least injured… I went the easiest on her.

"Thank you for your attempt to help heal the injured." The Fourth Division Taicho smiled down at me once more, causing me to shiver. "I have my hands full right now with the injured, but I hope you will be gone when I come back. I know you didn't wish to fight Isane, so I will respect your wishes and not fight you as well."

"Ah…Um, thank you." I hedged, slightly bowing to the Taicho as she crawled up on top of her Zanpakuto spirit.

Unohana smiled down at me once more, before petting the large manta-ray on the head. That seemed to be some sort of signal, because the creature's wings spread out and it took off in the air.

A wave of Ichigo's reiatsu washed over me, alerting me to his still ongoing fight with Kuchiki-Taicho. I could sense the Taicho's reiatsu as well. Ichigo was lucky that they seemed to be pretty much on equal footing.

Reiatsu was flaring at almost every corner of the Soul Society; I could feel so many different forces clashing. However, I didn't sense Renji's reiatsu flare, so they both must still be safe…but you can never be too sure.

I folded the cape that Ichigo had handed me, tucking it under my arm as I began running towards the base of the Sokyoku Hill.

"Renji and Rukia would have had to have come this way…" I muttered to myself as I forced my legs to run faster. I didn't want to Shunpo, because I wasn't exactly sure where I was going and I wanted to save as much of my reiatsu as I could in case something else happened. "Ah? Dead trees?"

We definitely didn't come this way the first time… I didn't remember seeing this forest of dead looking trees on our way to Sokyoku Hill. Well, that might have been because I was too focused on the part that I had to play. And I was trying to match Ukitake-Taicho's speed because we both held part of Yoruichi's family's artifact…

"Jun-Kun~!"