Kuukaku Shiba was a fireworks expert in the Rukongai. They were all presently outside in front of the giant chimney that was located behind her house. It was called the Flower Crane Cannon. The name alone gave Katsuko a vague idea about how they were going to get inside the Seireitei. Ishida also had an idea of what she was planning to do and he was not having it.
"You may be a fireworks expert or whatever, but as if you could shoot us over with that—!" Katsuko flinched and backed away from Ishida when Kuukaku pitched an orb at his face. Her eyes followed the trajectory once it bounced off his face and watched it land in Ichigo's hands.
"What is this?" Ichigo frowned and rotated it around curiously.
"It's a Spirit Core. Place your palms on it and focus your spiritual power!"
Ichigo tried to focus it in the most basic way he thought of: pressing his palms on it as if trying to squeeze the orb. But he just stopped and wondered how he was supposed to do it in the first place.
"Huh? What are you saying?" Kuukaku lifted her hand. "Like this." A bright blue orb manifested beneath her palm, and she gave Ichigo a skeptical look. "If you're a Soul Reaper, surely you know how to use your Kido." Her eyes landed on Katsuko who just simply stared back at her, lost. "Don't tell me you don't know how to do it either."
Before Katsuko could reply, Yoruichi interjected by informing Kuukaku that the two Soul Reapers present were not capable of using Kido at all. This led to Kuukaku calling over Ganju to give them a demonstration. Ganju held it in his palms and took in a deep breath before creating a giant sphere around his body.
Kuukaku knocked the sphere with her knuckles. "This is the Cannonball. Listen up, if you think that the wall around the Seireitei is the only defense, then you're dead wrong. That wall is made by a special ore known as Sekkiseki that is rare even in the Soul Society. It completely blocks out all spiritual power. That's why it's impossible to bore a hole through the barrier with spiritual power."
Katsuko thought back to when she wondered when Soul Reapers were going to come out of the Seireitei to hunt them down. The reason why no one came outside aside from the gatekeeper was because it would be impossible to break through physically. They would have to be waiting on the inside, ready to attack whoever tried to come in somehow.
A strong tactical defense…
"On top of that… this ore releases a special spiritual power wave from the cut surfaces. In other words, in both above and underground, the Seireitei is covered by a spherical barrier around it."
"Wow." Katsuko mumbled, impressed by their defense.
"And so, that's where this Cannonball comes in! This is the Special Hard Spiritual Partition Penetration Device that I invented. In other words, if all of you combined put your spiritual power into this Spirit Core, you can create a temporary cannonball that will break through the barrier. And then, I'll shoot that cannonball with the Flower-Crane Cannon and it'll pierce straight through the barrier. Any questions?"
"Just one." Katsuko decided to speak up meekly after having one concern. "… How will we go towards the Seireitei? Aren't we just going to be… flying upwards?"
"With Kido." Kuukaku replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Wait, the fuck?
"B-But how do we do that—"
"Okay! Dismissed! Go to the underground training room and practice concentrating your spiritual power!"
Katsuko's eye twitched in annoyance. Wasn't this important information for them to know?! She didn't appreciate the easy dismissal! All of a sudden, she was picked up and thrown over someone's shoulder.
"Hey! What the hell?!" she shouted in surprise. It was one of those guys that was guarding Kuukaku's house. The other one picked up Inoue and Ishida with ease. Ichigo was making a fuss and demanded that the guy, the same one who plucked her up from the ground, put him down. Ichigo's words were simply ignored and he was easily thrown over the guy's shoulder much like Katsuko who simply gave up fighting back.
"Listen, if any one of you loses concentration, you'll blow up right there!" Kuukaku added.
"What?!" Katsuko and Ichigo stiffened.
"She decides to tell us that now?!" the black haired girl hissed.
"Hey, you never mentioned that earlier!" Ichigo hollered.
And that's how they started their training for the preparation for the Cannonball.
When they arrived at the underground training room, Katsuko went off in a corner to practice focusing her spiritual power into the Spirit Core. She sat down on the ground, facing the corner, looking down at the orb.
She said were supposed to do this using Kido? But what is Kido?
Instead of just going at it without having an idea about what she was doing, she wanted to at least know something about Kido.
As she was lost in her thoughts, she felt someone stop behind her and their shadow loomed behind her. Curiously, she looked over her shoulder and peered up to find one of the guards standing behind her.
"What are you doing in the corner, Hiragi-dono?"
Whoa… okay that's the first time I'm being addressed in such an old fashioned manner. But okay. Oh wait…
She shifted around so that she could sit while facing them. "I just thought it would be better for me to concentrate like this. Anyway, can you tell me what is Kido exactly?"
The tall muscular man raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "I really find it hard to believe you know nothing about Kido, but very well, I shall tell you. Kido is one of the four major combat styles that a Soul Reaper must know. They are combat spells that are produced with strong spiritual power."
Katsuko thought back to when Rukia healed her shoulder after Ishida caused a gathering of Hollows in Karakura Town. She figured that must have been Kido.
But my problem is not knowing how to give my spiritual power shape.
"I see…" Katsuko rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Thank you." She said softly before standing and turning around once more, showing her back, to face the wall with a conflicted look. The man behind her gave her an odd look but decided to leave her be if that's how she decided to practice.
She was a little embarrassed about not being able to know how to do something that Kuukaku made look so simple.
When she sneaked a glance towards Inoue, Chad and Ishida, she couldn't help but feel envious at their current progress. Inoue was doing much better than the two boys presently, and they literally just started their training.
She forgot this feeling. The feeling akin to feeling so stupidly lost during an exam and peering around her to see if her classmates was already putting pencil to paper while she just hovered over hers. It's been a long time since she felt this way. She hated it immensely.
It's unnerving to feel like I don't have everything under control.
Her ears picked up on the sound of the two men trying to encourage Ichigo who was struggling to use his spiritual power. He was shouting at them to give him better advice.
Maybe I should try something different first instead of jumping in right away.
She sat back down, crossed legged, and set the orb in between her legs. The back of her hand rested on the orb and she looked down at her open palm. The only thing she could do right now to help her was try to imagine the same orb that Kuukaku had created when she demonstrated her handle on spiritual power. Perhaps attempting to do something as basic as that would help her.
In her lonesome, she sat there quietly and spent the next seven minutes trying to discover how to use spiritual power. In those seven minutes, she was able to only get sparks of blue as proof of her progress. Her mind was in the zone, she completely forgot about the others around her. Ganju, who sat against the wall she faced meters away from her, would just stare at her weirdly, wondering why she wasn't practicing like the others, but he didn't really care.
Several minutes later, after many failed attempts, she was finally to create the same kind of orb Kuukaku had made albeit it was a bit smaller. It made Katsuko smile in relief. Now, she had an idea of how spiritual power was supposed to be used, the feeling was now etched into her soul.
"Okay…" she mumbled softly, satisfied with her progress.
With her self tutorial out of the way, she held the orb in both of her hands and focused on pouring her power into the orb.
Imagine a future self that has achieved this.
And spit it out.
Dark brown eyes narrowed in focus even when her body suddenly felt lifted off the ground, they kept fixing the orb in her hands, not paying attention to anything else. She almost wanted to try and touch the sphere around her out of curiosity until she remembered Kuukaku's warning about blowing up. It was hard to maintain it, but for some reason she slowly got the hang of it the longer she held out. But obviously, she couldn't keep it up forever, so she abruptly stopped, causing her to land harshly on her rear.
"Ouch…" she hissed with a grimace.
"That's impressive."
Katsuko blinked, her mind rebooting fast to remember where she was once her zone was broken. Without a word, her head turned to find Yoruichi behind her, their tail swishing as they sat behind her.
"Oh… Yoruichi-san… hi."
"It seems you got the hang of pouring your spiritual power into your orb. Well done."
Dazed, she blinked in response, her mind a little slow after using her spiritual power for so long without any breaks. "You think so?"
The cat nodded. "Your cannonball was perfect."
"Really? I guess I was lucky since it was my first time trying. For a while now, I was just trying to learn how to use spiritual power instead of diving head first into pouring it into the Spirit Core."
"Is that so?" Yoruichi eyed her pensively. "Do you think your soul was the reason why it was easy on the first try?"
"Hmm…" Katsuko stared at Ishida who had made an oval instead of a sphere. "No… I didn't feel anything familiar. This time, I had to think and rely on myself to do it." She replied while moving around to face Yoruichi properly instead of craning her neck.
The cat let out a hum. "Then perhaps you just have an affinity for Kido."
"Maybe." Katsuko shrugged nonchalantly. She was just glad she was able to do it. Yoruichi asked her to pour her power into the Spirit Core once more to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. To the black cat's surprise, Katsuko simply rested a single hand on the orb while she sat and then she was lifted a little higher above the ground when the sphere took shape around her.
Yes, she most certainly has an affinity for Kido, it's plainly obvious.
With a soft sigh, Katsuko stopped, gently this time, and looked at Yoruichi for validation.
"It's perfect."
The black haired girl smiled a small smile.
After demonstrating her current progress with Chad, Ishida and Inoue, she found herself sitting in front of Inoue and Ishida with Chad next to her. They were taking a break. Ichigo was still practicing on his own since he still couldn't do anything yet. His sphere always ended up looking like a wave of bubbles or something.
"I think it's amazing that your cannonball is perfect!" Inoue all but gushed in front of her. According to both of Kuukaku's guards, Katsuko was the person who was the best at making the cannonball. It was surprising really.
Katsuko felt a little uncomfortable speaking to Inoue all of a sudden since she wasn't used to speaking with her in the first place. She was just awkward and shy like that. Inoue's still somewhat annoyed her because she was practically her opposite. But she was growing used to it a little so it wasn't as annoying. And after seeing her personality so far during school days and the the time spent in the Soul Society, she didn't know if Inoue's personality was suited to being on a battlefield. It seemed… wrong. Just like how it seemed wrong to add her healers at the front lines in a tactical game she often played at home. They should be nowhere near the front lines. But then again, what the hell did she know? Maybe Inoue had something up her sleeve? Hopefully?
"I guess I'm just lucky." Katsuko decided to be modest about it despite feeling pride swell inside of her. After years of being a top student, she loved basking in compliments that gave her validation for her pride.
But she worried about the possibility of being proven wrong when she finally had to do it when they were launched.
Ishida pushed up his glasses. "But it really is impressive considering how you and Kurosaki know nothing about using spiritual power."
He was obviously referring to when that giant walking Hollow with the weird boots started walking into their town.
"Well…" Katsuko started, scratching her cheek with her index finger. She turned to watch Ichigo who was still trying his best. "We didn't get any lessons or anything like that before. We're not your average Soul Reapers either." She said in both of their defenses.
"Now that you mention it," Ishida rested his hands on his knees and gave her a curious look. "How did you get Soul Reaper powers? I'm aware that Kurosaki got his from Kuchiki-san, but I don't know about you. From what I can tell, you were pretty normal aside from the spiritual power you had that was more than the average human."
"From what you can tell?" Katsuko tipped her head when she repeated him. "What, you mean you can sense if someone is a Soul Reaper or human?"
"Everyone has spirit ribbons which are basically a visualization of a person's spiritual power. The colour of a Soul Reaper's ribbon is red. Yours became red a few days after Kurosaki became a Soul Reaper." He explained to her.
Katsuko looked up at the ceiling as she recalled the event. She remembered feeling so scared and wanting nothing more than to hide in her home where she always felt safe.
"That sounds about right. It just happened suddenly out of nowhere. No one was there to help me when a Hollow attacked me on the way home from school."
She described to them what she felt at that moment. The overwhelming fear she felt when she stared at the inside of Hollow's mouth that was followed by a sense of familiarity. The sudden instinct to get out of her body as a Soul Reaper to protect herself. The flight or fight response to kill the Hollow while her body moved practically on its own.
"I passed out right after I killed it. Ichigo and Rukia found me. She told me that I might have gotten my powers because my soul might have been a Soul Reaper's before it was reborn as me. An error, she called it, an error in the Cycle of Transmigration."
Inoue was the first to react to that. She gasped loudly and clapped her hands together. "That sounds so much like a fantasy story if you think about it! Imagine if you were a hero that was reincarnated to finish saving the world!"
The black haired girl blinked dumbly. "A hero?" That did seem like a fantasy type of trope now that she thought about it.
The burnt orange haired girl nodded with a smile. "Don't you think so, Sado-kun?"
"I… suppose."
Katsuko propped her right elbow on her knee and rested her chin in her palm. "Now that I think back... I think Rukia's presence did something to me on her first day at school. If it weren't for Ichigo, I almost would have fallen down the stairs while going down. You were there." she looked at Inoue who blinked and then nodded. "I was perfectly fine but I just felt dizzy and weak for a moment. Maybe that was the start of it..."
"But anyway, if that's really the case, maybe something might happen once we enter the Seireitei." Ishida said thoughtfully. If Katsuko also bore a resemblance to someone who died, then maybe it will turn some heads. He had to admit, even he was a little intrigued by the mystery.
Katsuko shrugged. "Maybe."
…
…
…
Katsuko left the others alone when they resumed their training and decided to see how Ichigo was doing. Her friend was just sitting on the ground crossed legged and probably staring down at the floor, she couldn't tell since he had his back to her. With light footsteps, she approached him from behind and decided to poke his head. Confused, he turned his head and saw her standing behind him while holding her orb in one hand. From where she stood, she could see his own orb resting in between his legs. He was taking a short break from practice.
"Oh, hey Katsuko."
"How's it going?"
"Can't do shit." He all but grumbled and flopped on his back at her feet, closing his eyes in annoyance. As she stared at the scowl on his face upside down, she hastily moved away from his head out of fear of dropping her orb flat on his face.
He wasn't discouraged. He was just really annoyed. Understandable. She'd probably be sulking in a corner if she wasn't able to do it either.
"Man… so you really suck at this, huh?" she snickered.
"Shut up. You don't have to tell me." Ichigo growled at her which made her grin and sit down near him. She was still holding her orb carefully. Ichigo sat up with a frown and narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't see you making one." He said, suspicious.
She looked at him impassively before making a perfect sphere around her body. She couldn't help the smug grin at Ichigo's priceless face. His mouth fell open and he just stared at her completely baffled by the sight before he averted his eyes away with a scowl. It made her giggle before she made the cannonball disappear around her.
She leaned towards him while he looked away. "I got it perfectly on my first try. Yoruichi-san said so."
"Stop bragging!"
Great. She was good at human stuff and now she was good at soul stuff. How unfair.
She moved to appear in his line of sight, shooting him a shit eating grin. He reached to push her head back but she just caught his wrist and lowered it down.
"I had to practice making that orb that Kuukaku did earlier first to try and learn how to use my spiritual power." She started explaining to him, causing him to look at her attentively. She lifted her hand and made a small bright blue orb appear in her hand. "Obviously, it's not the same as hers. But I needed to get some type of foundation because we don't know how to use Kido. Once I got the hang of it, I just pictured a version of myself that was able to do cannonball and literally force out the image into reality. That's how I was able to do it."
"That worked?" Ichigo blinked.
"Well, you saw me do it just now, didn't you?"
Ichigo stared at the orb between his legs.
Katsuko played with her hakama nervously. "It might not work for you, but I thought I'd try helping you anyway since we both didn't know how to use spiritual power. I relied mostly on a visualization even when I tried to make that orb in my hand."
"Visualization…" he repeated and picked up the orb, eyes still glued on. Her words were sinking in. After a brief pause, he raised his head to look at her. "Thanks for the advice."
This brought a small smile on her face and she watched him stand back up on his feet with newfound determination. She just hoped her trick helped him finally make some progress.
"I'll leave you alone so you can concentrate." She picked up her orb and skillfully stood up without using her hands.
…
…
…
"So what's your reason for saving this Soul Reaper?"
Katsuko felt her feet glued to the wooden floor like as if someone had used magic to stop her from moving. She lurched forward a little before standing upright and looking behind her. She found Ganju behind her with his arms crossed. She didn't expect to find him there. She was just minding her own business wandering around outside the training room since her cannonball was oh so perfect according to the professionals.
"Is this Soul Reaper important to you and dandelion head?"
Katsuko tipped her head at the nickname, confused. "Dandeli… Oh." Her mouth formed a circle in realization. "I'm pretty sure she's more important to him than to me. But I guess… I want to help save her because I don't want her to die. And if Ichigo wants to save her then I have to make sure he does so we can go home in one piece."
"Really?" Ganju frowned. "You're not getting anything by doing all this work? Money?"
The black haired girl scratched her head and arched a brow. "You guys use Yen too?"
"What's Yen?"
"Never mind then. Nope, I don't get any money from this. And anyway, I don't get why you don't like me."
The girl knew that Ganju had a hatred towards Soul Reapers but she didn't know why. Honestly, she felt offended to be lumped into the category he hated just because she was a Soul Reaper, she didn't do anything wrong but ignore him so far. She didn't think that was worth being hated over. Besides, she ignored him because he got on her nerves after first meeting him last night.
"I don't know what being a Soul Reaper is in your definition. Am I supposed to act evil or like some douche? I don't have to the energy for that. It sounds like too much trouble."
"Okay fine." He dropped his arms. "I'll admit you're not like other Soul Reapers."
Katsuko resisted the urge to scoff and grin. Instead, she crossed her arms and frowned a little. "What gave that away? When I didn't deck you when you flicked my forehead and called me shitty?"
"Your dumb friend did!" he shot back, annoyed.
"Yeah, well, he's a natural retaliator, if you push him, after all the crap he's been through."
After all the unnecessary bullying he got, there's no way he'd just take things sitting down.
The Rukongai resident stared at her pensively who just looked in front of her when she saw Yoruichi coming down from the stairs. The burly man turned around and walked back towards the training room to continue watching the others train.
It was true. The female Soul Reaper in the group didn't seem to act like what he imagined and remembered from his experience when he was little. Both the girl and the carrot were different. But why was that so? He needed to know.
With nothing to do, Katsuko was sitting back against Kuukaku's house and stared ahead as the sun set. Her Zanpakuto was tilted back and resting against her right shoulder while she just stared at the giant walls that surrounded the Seireitei, she could actually see them from where she was. She was getting nervous the longer she stared at the one thing keeping them out of the Seireitei. Earlier, Yoruichi had told her that they were most likely going to leave tonight or early in the morning, no later than that since they were pressed for time, it was crucial that Ichigo learned how to do make his cannonball before then. Upon hearing that, Katsuko could remember feeling her stomach drop.
She realized how nervous she was about it ever since they encountered Ichimaru at the gate.
Sitting outside and feeling the breeze made her think and sort out her feelings towards this mission. The girl exhaled a sigh and leaned her head back while she closed her eyes. Unlike Ichigo, she had never physically tried to harm someone with a sword in her life. Fighting against Urahara was an exception since she knew it was just training. She never got badly injured like him from another's sword. The only major injury she got in her life so far was from a Hollow that got her shoulder. She knew that going into the Seireitei meant that she was going to get cut up, the thought alone was pretty scary, but even so she resolved to do it.
With a shove of her shoulder, the Zanpakuto tilted and fell right into her hands. She flipped it around horizontally to pull out the blade from its sheath, staring at the blade with eyes that seemed almost in a daze.
Back when Urahara had the intent to kill me when he was training me... it made me realize how scary battle is.
Her face was reflected on the blade. It mirrored her conflicted expression.
It's too late to back out now though.
Katsuko gripped the handle harder when she pictured herself causing harm to someone with her blade. The feeling of the blade slicing through a Hollow followed by relief and indifference was most likely going to be different when slashing another person. It wasn't like she was scared of hurting someone, it's just that it was going to be her first time hurting another person.
When it finally comes down to it, I can't be like this. It's like Yoruichi-san said, the slightest hesitation will get me killed.
But it's not like I'm going to kill somebody. I'm not a killer.
With another sigh, she sheathed her sword and absentmindedly brushing her fingers on her sheath.
"Hiragi-san?"
With a yelp and jump, she whipped her head towards the door and found Ishida looking down at her. He blinked at her reaction. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"Uh... no it's fine."
"They prepared food for us downstairs." he informed her. It made her realize just how she missed having her phone to simply check the time.
"I'm coming." she simply said as she pushed herself off the ground and followed Ishida down the stairs. When he descended the stairs in front of her, she only stared at the back of his head, thinking about the interactions they had so far. She had only interacted with him during his little Hollow game, up on the roof when Ichigo invited him to eat, and on this mission to save Rukia.
"Um, Ishida... how come you fight with a bow and arrow?"
The boy turned his head a little after hearing her innocent question, he could see the pure curiosity written across her face. He remembered their earlier conversation and turned his head back in front to see where he was putting his feet. "I'm a Quincy." he easily answered her.
Katsuko tilted her head, confused. "... Is that another form of Soul Reaper I don't know about?"
"What, no!" he quickly shot down her guess, making her look at him weirdly. He then coughed awkwardly and cleared his throat to cover up his little outburst. "To put it simply, it means I'm a human that can use reishi to create a weapon out of it, my bow. Reishi is what composes all spiritual matter and souls just so you know."
"Oh. Can you always see Hollows?"
"Of course I can."
He probably has a lot of experience fighting Hollows then.
And didn't Ichigo say that he was there when Rukia was being taken away to the Soul Society?
She thought back to her earlier concerns as they walked down the hallway. Her mind couldn't help but wonder how Ishida felt when he went up against a Soul Reaper.
Ichigo had finally succeeded at making his cannonball but not without blowing himself up in the process. The little fool completely forgot about Kuukaku's warning and just went boom. It scared the hell out of Katsuko who had been on her way down to the training room to give him some of her food. She ate sandwiches at school so she was used to not eating until she was full anyway.
He passed out not long after and everyone had to wait until he regained consciousness. He nearly tore off a piece of Yoruichi's tail after vice gripping it out of nowhere in his sleep. Katsuko waited in the training room with Ganju, who started reciting some weird chanting, with a tray of food at her side. One of Ganju's buddies had prepared a separated tray for him and urged her to finish hers, so she did. Once he woke up, he ate his food and followed after her outside the training room.
"I hope you're well rested after that." Katsuko adjusted her Zanpakuto on her hip as they walked down the long hallway. "Because we're leaving as soon as everything is ready."
"Finally. Wait, did everyone rest up for the departure?"
"You kidding me? You were knocked out real good so we really couldn't do anything but rest. I took a long nap while waiting." Katsuko huffed and then shot him a grin. "Anyway, we're all ready to jump straight into the lion's den and most likely die."
Ichigo scowled at her dark humor and flicked her forehead, making jerk away with a chuckle. "Stop joking like that. We're not dying."
"Hey, you never know." Katsuko said, her tone nonchalant and she shrugged.
"No one is going to die." He told her firmly, he lifted his hand and then clenched it into a fist. "We're saving Rukia and then we'll go home. I'll make sure of it."
"Look at you," she whirled around and started walking backwards. "You sound very confident. You don't have a single shred of hesitation don't you?"
"Hell no." he stared at her and dropped his hand, his face serious. "I'm not going to let her die because of me, I have to do this."
A small smile appeared on her lips and she nodded her head once. "Yes, I know." she said before a yelp escaped her when she stumbled backwards and nearly fell on her back. Ichigo only snorted in amusement. The girl rolled her eyes when she saw him chuckling at her.
"Glad I amuse you." She stopped walking and took several steps forward before wrapping her arms around him, hiding her face in his chest. Ichigo startled and stopped, his hands hovering in the air, unsure what to do as stared down at her.
"Wh-What's with you?" he sputtered.
She snickered at his reaction in his Shihakusho and shook her head, messing up her bangs in the process.
"I just felt like I needed one now that we're finally doing this." then she scoffed. "Why? I can't hug my friends anymore?"
"I didn't say that..." he grumbled and he looked down at her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little nervous. I never really tried to stop an execution before."
She couldn't hug Ishida or Inoue because it would just be plain weird. She might have considered hugging Chad too if he was present. But Ichigo was the only one present and she didn't feel like showing off her vulnerability to anyone else. The sight of his resolve made her want to leech off of him so that she could steel herself even more. It's only fair. It looked like Ichigo had too much anyway. Besides, it's not like she never gave Ichigo a hug in the past few years.
His naturally hard features softened and he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. He couldn't blame her for feeling a little scared. It was amazing enough that she chose to come along on such a dangerous mission when she was normally the one who would stay away from danger. She always made sure to stay away from anything that could potentially hurt her. This was even worse considering how death could be a possibility, even though he swore to himself that it would not come to pass.
It also unnerved him when he felt like this was a 'unless we don't survive' moment.
"We trained for this." he reminded her and placed his hands on her shoulders firmly. "You're going to be fine. Trust me."
She only stilled at his words before humming a little in response. He wasn't lying. She proved herself capable in a fight much to his surprise. She was also pretty fierce too. Honestly, it was like seeing a part of her he never saw before.
It wasn't long until she pulled away and poked him in the ribs, flashing him a smirk. "Alright, let's get going. I don't want Kuukaku getting mad because you're holding us up. You still remember how to make the cannonball?" she asked him as they walked side by side.
"Yeah, it's pretty easy." he straightened up proudly, a proud smile on his face.
She smiled innocently. "Right? But you trained like your life was on the line while I got it pretty easily."
Ichigo dropped his head when he sulked as he continued walking with her which brought a grin on her face, amused, and patted his shoulder in mocking comfort.
Presently, everyone was inside the cannon that was going to fire them off towards the Seireitei. Ganju was tagging along with them now though. He was standing next to Ichigo and Chad with his hand on the orb. Katsuko was standing in between Chad and Ishida, waiting nervously for Kuukaku to blast them into the air from outside. They were finally proceeding with their mission, it was a nerve wracking now that it was finally time. Yoruichi was currently giving them some instructions while they waited.
"Listen… Once we're in the Seireitei, we have to stick together. If you encounter any Captains, don't think, just run." Ichigo looked away when Ishida and Katsuko looked at him pointedly. "Our goal is to save Rukia, and nothing else. Don't, by any means, take any useless risks!" they all heard a blade pierce into wood followed by Kuukaku who was reciting an incantation. The feline looked at everyone. "It has begun! Pour in your spiritual powers!"
All seven of them focused and started pouring it out until a giant bright blue orb surrounded them all. Katsuko could feel the nervousness dialing up inside her as she patiently waited and continued maintaining her output. Finally, everyone felt the ball shoot up into the sky, she hardened herself so that she wouldn't lose focus even when they flew up in the air from the blast. When they were up in the sky, Katsuko, Chad and Ishida were facing the ground while Inoue, Inoue and Ganju were facing the sky. They were completely standing still inside the cannonball where gravity's force didn't seem to exist.
Ichigo glanced at the ground. "There wasn't as much of a shock as I expected." He remarked.
"Idiot. It's only the beginning." Ganju scoffed.
"Wait… how the hell are we supposed to make this thing move?!" Katsuko nearly shouted when she remembered Kuukaku's blunt answer to her question. But her question was granted an answer when the cannonball suddenly shot towards the Seireitei like is it was attracted to it like a magnet. Everyone let out a yelp from the sudden speed.
With Ganju's instructions, everyone started stabilizing the cannonball by keeping their output at a constant. It was important not to mess it up unless they wanted to die. That was the only thing they needed to do while Ganju recited a spell written on a long piece of parchment he whipped out. All seemed well until one by one people started pointing out that Ichigo wasn't keeping it at a constant, upsetting the balance that everyone tried maintaining.
Katsuko's anxiety kept fluctuating every time Ichigo would raise or lower his output which barely kept his output at a constant. She was scared.
"A thousand sprinkles of ash, a thousand bits of wisdom…"
"Ichigo!"
"The measure of white clouds…"
"I said I know!"
"Approaching the great darkness..."
"I'm turning it down now. Hold on!"
"Not stepping on scarlet shadows…"
"Ichigo!"
"Would you calm down?!"
"A thousand sprinkles of ash, a thousand bits of wisdom…?!" Ganju flinched and whipped his head to glare at Ichigo. Once more, Katsuko's anxiety spiked up again, especially since Ganju was no longer reciting his incantation. "You idiot! You made me read the same line twice!"
"So what?! Is that supposed to be my fault too?!"
"HEY!" Katsuko's voice boomed loudly, causing everyone bar Yoruichi to flinch at the sudden volume that bounced off the walls of the cannonball. Ishida and Inoue looked scared while Chad just seemed startled. It wasn't his first time seeing her snap like this but that didn't mean it made her any less scary. Ichigo stiffened with Ganju and they both stared back at her.
Katsuko was staring at them darkly while they stared back at her. "Fucking stop arguing before I do something about it. I'm not in the mood to die. Ganju, continue. Ichigo, keep it down."
"O…Okay."
"Hiragi-san… you're pouring in too much." Ishida pointed out gently.
"… Sorry." She sighed.
Scary…
Ichigo looked down at the orb but then shifted his eyes at Ganju. "Great. You made her pissed at us." He said in a hushed voice.
"Shut the hell up, idiot. You're the one who kept making so much noise." Ganju whispered back with narrowed eyes and then flinched when he saw Katsuko glaring at him suspiciously.
The Seireitei finally came into view. Katsuko's eyes widened when her eyes landed on the sight. It was a whole city that was covered with some morning fog. Once again, the Soul Society surprised her, she wasn't expecting to be at awe at the sight of the city. It was different from what she expected. For a split second, she saw the spherical barrier around the Seireitei appear before their cannonball slipped right through, and she jumped in surprise when their sphere disappeared the moment they made it through.
They were floating in mid air, high above the Seireitei. Katsuko looked down below and saw numerous groups of Soul Reapers just looking up at them.
There's… really a lot of them.
She noted how some of them had their swords out ready to attack.
If I was the one down there living in the Seireitei, I'd probably be a little scared if some random intruders made it past the defenses. A danger to my home.
Yeah. That's what we are. That's how they see us: a threat to their home.
"Don't get separated!" Yoruichi's voice snapped her out of it. "The cannonball dissolved when it hit the shield and it's only temporarily holding us up! It will eventually create a whirlpool, then explode and vanish. If we are separated at that time, we will be blown apart by the shock!"
Katsuko's eyes widened when she suddenly felt her body getting pulled in by a force. It was the whirlpool that Yoruichi was taking about. The person nearest to her was Ichigo but he was getting farther away.
"Ichigo!" Katsuko shouted, outstretching her hand towards him. He noticed this and latched onto her wrist, pulling her towards him. She held onto a piece of his Shihakusho for safety measure and Yoruichi perched on her shoulder. Ganju came swimming towards them and latched onto the orange haired teen. Chad had thrown Ishida at Inoue, leaving him to fall down towards the Seireitei.
"No!"
"Chad!"
"Don't worry!" Yoruichi quickly calmed down the two Soul Reapers who panicked. "He will surely survive! But if you want to be able to search for him down there, you must consider you own safety first!"
Unwilling to let another one of his friends get separated, Ichigo tightened his grip around Katsuko's wrist and reached for Inoue's hand that was out of his reach. Unfortunately, a force between the two and was forcefully pushing them away. The whirlpool began glowing brighter, Ichigo and Katsuko had locked eyes for a split second before they were blinded by the light and they were forcefully split apart by an explosion.
Needless to say, Katsuko felt her stomach drop when she realized the gravity of her situation.