9 – Karakura Protectors
Ichigo glanced at the calendar. 'July 15, today's the day Kanonji comes to Karakura.'
As he headed down to help out with making breakfast, he heard his little sister Yuzu, his dad, and Rukia all making the signature "BOAHAHAHA" laugh.
"Onii-chan! Mr. Kanonji's Ghost Bust is tonight! You're coming with us, right?!" Yuzu ran over to him excitedly.
"Ah, yeah, sure," said Ichigo. He saw his other little sister drinking milk with a bored expression.
"Yay!" Yuzu then went over to Karin and announced that their brother was coming, even though Karin saw and heard them.
'If things go like they did in my dreams, there'll be a demi-Hollow there…and I need to stop Kanonji from causing Pluses to become Hollows in the future,' thought Ichigo.
He noticed Karin staring at him again, just like she did last week when this week's Don Kanonji Ghost Bust location was announced.
They'd had a conversation then about why Karin didn't care too much about the show.
She could see spirits just like Ichigo himself. Their family had known that for a long time, and Karin did see the Hollow that attacked their family, so he suspected that Karin knew about his activities with Rukia, but she'd never said anything.
And as long as she didn't, he didn't see a need to bring it up. He didn't want to drag her into the affairs of the spiritual world, and he figured that she understood why he never talked about it.
Like this, Ichigo and Karin quietly had their breakfast while the other three members of their family, including Rukia, loudly talked about the upcoming show.
O O O
"There's actually an earthbound spirit here…" said Rukia.
"Yeah, I know. And it's already progressed to being demi-Hollow. Kanonji's going to make it turn full Hollow by accident," said Ichigo.
"You dreamed about this too?" Rukia asked. He nodded in response.
They were a short distance behind the crowd that had gathered to watch the live show at the old abandoned hospital building. Isshin, Yuzu, and Karin were farther ahead where the crowd was.
"Why didn't you give it a Soul Burial sooner, then? We can't do it with all these people here, especially if it struggles," said Rukia.
"Because Kanonji's been doing this in other places too, opening Hollow holes in these spirits. He needs to see that he's not helping," said Ichigo.
"What an idiot. How did he not get eaten by a transformed Hollow yet?"
"I haven't got a clue."
At that point, some of their friends from school started to show up, the two stealthily left to watch from further away, getting on to a nearby rooftop.
Once the show started, things progressed as Ichigo predicted. When the demi-Hollow started to wail as Kanonji messed with its Hollow hole, Ichigo noticed Karin blocking her ears apparently in pain.
With his spirit pressure sensing much improved, he quickly found his friends among the crowd and noticed that Chad, Orihime, and Tatsuki all seemed similarly disturbed, but not to the extent that Karin was.
'Tatsuki too? I don't remember her being spiritually aware…never mind, it doesn't matter. I won't drag any of them into the spiritual world.'
"Rukia…I'm going," he said. "I'll need to be in spirit form for this, so that I won't be seen."
Rukia voiced her assent, then used the soul capture glove on him, catching his body as it fell.
O O O
Ichigo in his Quincy spirit form appeared next to Kanonji, then shoved him aside.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing, you idiot? That's not going to send him to heaven. You're going to cause him to turn Hollow," he said, standing over the downed Kanonji. The TV broadcaster shouted about the invisible force that knocked the star down.
"Boy, what's with you? Why are you interfering? You're just a ghost!" Kanonji said as he got up.
'Déjà vu…'
But this time Ichigo was on a completely different level. He released some of his spirit pressure.
Suddenly Kanonji choked before he could say anything else and dropped to his knees. A wave of unease swept through the whole crowd, but Ichigo's spirit pressure also stopped the demi-Hollow's spirit pressure from negatively affecting Karin and his friends.
"B-boy, you're no ordinary ghost!" Kanonji said after struggling back up.
"You got that right. I'm here to stop you from making more mistakes in the future. Listen up, Kanonji—"
"Are you also an evil spirit?! The great spirit medium of the century will exorcise you!" Kanonji made a pose.
Ichigo's face twitched. Then he focused even more of his spirit pressure onto Kanonji, sending him crashing down to the floor again.
Kanonji quietly whimpered as Ichigo grabbed him by the cuff.
"Shut the hell up and listen to me! You need to stop messing with the holes and chains of these spirits! Normal spirits have a chain attached to their chest. When a hole opens and they lose the chain, they lose their minds too and turn into monsters called Hollows. What you've just done to that spirit is speed up the process. Watch!" Ichigo pointed to the spirit, who was just about to completely hollowfy.
It screamed and clutched at its chest as its wails turned even more terrible, then suddenly it spasmed and there was a flash of light, leaving nothing but air when the light died down.
"You're w-wrong boy! I-I sent it to heaven!" Don Kanonji said with a struggle. "Mission Complete!"
"No you haven't, look up. It's reforming into a monster now," Ichigo pointed up, and also let up on his spirit pressure.
Don Kanonji followed his finger to see the Hollow forming limbs, a chest, a head, and then a mask over it.
"Wh-what is that monster?!" He cried.
"That's a Hollow, formed from the spirit you just messed with."
"No way!"
"And now it's going to come after us because it's hungry for spiritual energy, and we've got it," Ichigo said. True to his words, the Hollow jumped down straight towards them.
Ichigo dragged Kanonji into the abandoned hospital building. What followed was a chase that Ichigo deliberately allowed, so that Kanonji could save face by seemingly having an epic battle with an "invisible monster".
At the end of it, they were on the rooftop, and Ichigo pinned the Hollow's head down onto the floor from behind using his bare hands, right in front of Kanonji.
"Now look closely, and see for yourself that this is the same spirit you thought you sent to heaven," he said, pointing two fingers at the Hollow's head. "Hado #4: Byakurai."
From his fingers a concentrated beam of electricity was released that punched through the head of the Hollow and broke its mask.
When the Hollow was revealed to be the human spirit, Don Kanonji fell on his knees in shock.
"What have I been doing all this time…?"
O O O
After Ichigo returned to his body, the two of them went to find the Kurosaki family again.
Suddenly Rukia tugged on Ichigo's sleeve. "Look, it's Urahara."
"Huh? Oh you're right." Ichigo glanced over and saw the shopkeeper together with the two kid assistants he had.
'Was he supposed to be here? I can't remember,' Ichigo thought. 'Damn, he must've have seen me in my spirit form without the Shinigami robes just now. I didn't use any Quincy techniques, and I don't really look like a traditional Quincy either…but will he figure out that I already gave Rukia's powers back to her?'
Shortly after, they saw Urahara approaching, fanning himself as he walked. "Why hello there, Kurosaki-san, Kuchiki-san! Fancy meeting you here. Are you fans of Mr. Don Kanonji too?"
"Why are you in this sort of place, Urahara? Are you scheming something?" Rukia asked with a look of suspicion.
"Not at all! These kids love this show, so I had no choice but to come out here," Urahara said, gesturing to his young assistants, who peeked out from behind him.
"Right…" Rukia said with obvious doubt.
"By the way, Kurosaki-san, you looked quite dashing today in those new fashionable Western clothes. But I wonder what happened to your Zanpaktou?" Urahara asked.
'Is he digging for information or just pretending he doesn't know yet?'
"I must have lost it somewhere. I can't find it," Ichigo said unashamedly. Rukia sweatdropped.
"Oh my, you lost a huge sword like that?" Urahara put his fan over the bottom half of his face. "Do you perhaps need a new one? I do have some in stock if you need a replacement, but they're not quite as impressively large."
'What the…? Is he talking about blank Asauchi? Shit, why didn't I ever think to ask him about that? Oh right, didn't want him to find out about Rukia's powers.'
"You have replacement Zanpaktou?" Ichigo asked with a fake confused expression.
"Not quite, Kurosaki-san. They are called Asauchi, until a Shinigami puts their own spirit pressure in it and makes it their own. It's a common training tool for Shinigami."
Ichigo's face turned contemplative.
'Hey, Old man Gesshokuro, if I get an actual Asauchi, can we achieve a Shikai and Bankai without breaking the seal on the Hollow?'
Gesshokuro's deep voice answered after a moment. 'Yes, I believe we can.'
"Seriously? Yeah, I think I'd like to get one then," said Ichigo.
"Come by my shop later then! It's on the house. My thanks for doing a great job keeping the town safe. I'm a resident too, after all! Good bye!" Urahara started fanning himself as he walked away with a laugh.
"Thanks! See you later, Hat 'n' Clogs!"
Ichigo and Rukia went back to searching for the Kurosaki family.
"It's illegal to have Asauchi outside of Soul Society other than the Shinigami's own Zanpaktou…and the illegal mod souls…there were so many hints that he was fishy, I can't believe I just ignored them all until you told me the truth about him," said Rukia.
"Do you think he knows?" Ichigo said, putting his hands casually behind his head.
"I don't know…but I think he suspects, at the very least. If I were him, I'd have a way to monitor any changes in my spirit pressure," said Rukia. "And he is very skilled in hiding his own spirit energy signature. I wouldn't be surprised if he's been stalking us the whole time."
"At least he can still be useful sometimes. As much as I like my Quincy powers now, I miss having a Zanpaktou," said Ichigo.
O O O
The next day, Ichigo and Rukia were in the middle of training after school, which they started to do in the real world on the outskirts of Karakura so Ichigo could do the Sanrei exercise, when Ichigo sensed a Hollow in town.
He woke Rukia who was training through Jinzen, then they rushed back into Karakura proper to chase after the Hollow.
Because Ichigo hadn't built enough of a connection with his new Asauchi, he had to carry it physically with him, even though it wasn't visible to ordinary humans. It looked as though his hand was clasped around empty air as the two of them ran.
Just before they arrived, the Hollow spirit pressure disappeared. They shared a look, both thinking that Ishida was responsible and preparing to give him a lecture about not destroying Hollows when the two of them were around and willing to work with him, but when they arrived, they saw a Shinigami standing in the empty street where they sensed the Hollow signature.
He was wearing a familiar straw hat. It was Saido Eikichiro, the Shinigami who had been sent after Rukia a month ago when they fought Grand Fisher.
Ichigo tensed and his hand went to his sword handle, momentarily losing his focus with suppressing his spirit pressure.
It was noticed by the other Shinigami, who turned and tipped his hat up.
"Mah…no need to be so tense, lovebirds. I'm not here to fight," said Saido, raising his hands in a peace gesture.
"Hello Saido-san, what brings you to Karakura town again?" Rukia asked.
"I was assigned to patrol over in Kagamino City east of here, and thought I'd stop by to say hello!" He waved and grinned. Then he face turned serious. "And to give you two a warning."
Ichigo and Rukia shared a knowing look.
"Thank you for stopping by, Saido-san. It is good to see that you are well. What is this warning you speak of?" Rukia asked politely.
"You've probably already guessed it, haven't you? It's been a month since I reported in and you still haven't returned to Soul Society. Onmitsukido is trying to investigate you again. I managed to get out of taking the mission, but they know I found you in Karakura town, and this is where you were assigned for your original mission. They'll just send someone else, maybe the agents from Executive Militia—I'm from Patrol Corps in case you couldn't tell by my normal shihakusho—and those ninja guys aren't going to listen to your reasons. Kuchiki-san, I don't know why you're still here, but if you're really intent on pursuing a serious relationship with this human and not just a temporary little fling, you might want to consider eloping a bit farther away from here, like the next country over," Saido said with a completely straight face.
Ichigo and Rukia both blushed, and hurriedly stammered out denials that they were in any romantic relationship.
Saido laughed and waved them off. "I don't care what you want to call it. Point is, you'd better watch out."
Rukia bowed and thanked him in a formal manner. Ichigo gave his own thanks more casually.
"Well, that's all I wanted to say, catch you later, lovebirds!"
Saido was just turning to leave when Rukia called after him.
"Wait! Saido-san, do you know what's going on in my division? Why is Onmitsukido coming after me instead of Division 13?"
"Eh, I don't know. I haven't talked to anybody in your Division. All I know is that the higher ups in Onmitsukido suspect you've committed a more serious crime," Saido said, giving Ichigo a meaningful look. He turned back to Rukia. "But then again, it could also be the Kuchiki clan's influence, trying to eliminate a potential scandal quietly."
Rukia's eyes widened, before darting to Ichigo. She understood the implication easily, but Ichigo didn't look like it he got the significance of Saido's statement.
If the Kuchiki clan was trying to quietly "eliminate" a scandal, it could only mean to kill whomever they believed had seduced Rukia into dishonoring the Kuchiki clan name—namely, Ichigo.
She thought her brother wouldn't resort to such methods without at least having the decency to confront and punish her first, but maybe she was wrong, or maybe the clan elders were too angry that the adopted commoner was yet again bringing dishonor to the clan.
Once again, she thanked Saido for the tip, and together with Ichigo, they prepared to return to their training.
However soon after Saido left, they felt another Hollow presence.
This time, there was nobody else there, and Ichigo quickly slashed it in half with his Asauchi.
The two of them started to go back to their training spot, only to stop again when a third Hollow was detected.
After that one was also dealt with, both of them started feeling uneasy. Three Hollows in quick succession like that was abnormal.
Their feeling was vindicated when the fourth Hollow appeared. And then a fifth Hollow before they even got there.
"What the hell?! Shit, was Hollow bait released? Why is this happening?!" Ichigo shouted as they rushed to deal with the next two Hollows, moving with Flash Step.
Very soon, more and more Hollow signatures appeared all over the town.
"This is bad! We should split up to purify them faster!" Rukia shouted.
'No! This isn't possible! Why are things going the same way as my dream? Ishida shouldn't have released any Hollow bait this time!' Ichigo had been sensing Uryu's spirit pressure and it was clear that he had only just started to fight when the Hollows numbers grew dangerously high. He had been honoring their agreement to let Ichigo and Rukia handle the Hollows whenever possible, until he deemed it necessary to act because there were too many.
Even now, Ishida wasn't using killing blows yet. Otherwise, Ichigo knew the other Quincy could wipe out all of the Hollows instantly from a single position by unleashing a massive barrage of arrows.
Ichigo shouted his agreement to Rukia, then the two of them rushed in different directions.
Over the last month, having stayed in a human body for so long, Rukia had managed to learn how to use Flash Step and manifest her Zanpaktou without going into spirit form.
To minimize the chances of attracting the wrong attention from Soul Society, she continued to stay in her body rather than going into spirit form.
With a few rapid flash steps, she appeared in front of a Hollow and slashed down, Sode no Shirayuki appearing midway through the slash. Then she immediately dashed off again to hunt the next Hollow.
After killing three more Hollows, she realized that the number of Hollows appearing in Karakura town was still increasing.
And some of them were getting close to her spiritually aware friends.
While she was trying to decide which way to go next, she felt a huge release of spirit pressure from Ichigo.
It was like a beacon that suddenly caused all the Hollows in town to swarm in that direction, leaving their original targets.
'He's trying to lure all the Hollows to himself!' Rukia moved that way as well after she understood Ichigo's intention.
When she arrived, it was to see Ichigo in an empty park, surrounded by over twenty Hollows, and even more still coming. The sky seemed to be filled with Hollows from every direction.
Like Rukia, Uryu had also rushed over, and was firing crippling but non-fatal blows with his arrows, so that Ichigo could purify them.
She quickly entered the fight and started hacking at Hollows left and right.
O O O
A/N:
Had a number of people say they didn't like the manga/anime conventions used for humor a few chapters ago. Well, it won't pop up often, but I'm not removing them. Not only did a bunch of readers like it, it's something that reminds me of the early Bleach. I never liked it all that much the first time around either, but it's a part of the "Bleach" vibe and now I appreciate it being there.
The guys that are leaving Spanish reviews, I'm gtranslating and appreciate the positive feedback, but I won't be responding directly to non-English reviews.
Allhailthesith: I'm that just because Rukia said so doesn't mean she's right. These aren't normal circumstances, and Central 46 isn't operating normally either. If you think that's BS, then there's nothing I can do about it.
Exodus12345: Sorry, this is a bit of rant, and includes some stuff you may consider as spoilers. Personally, I think it's all deducible from canon, but YMMV.
No, his Quincy side isn't holding him back. He never lied and still hasn't, and Gesshokuro is not only his "Quincy" side either. It's the half of his Zanpaktou which represents his Quincy powers.
A normal Quincy wouldn't have a Quincy inner spirit, or be capable of suppressing their own Quincy powers to avoid Soul Suicide the way Ichigo's spirit can. His Shinigami powers are not a balancer. If that was true, then Masaki would've been able to keep using her Quincy powers after Isshin suppressed them with his Shinigami powers. Similarly, the Wandenreich would have been able to use the sealed Bankais even with the Hollow spirit pressure in them, if the Bankai could "balance" out the Hollow spirit pressure poison that Urahara invented. But it doesn't work that way. It has never been shown that Shinigami spirit pressure balances Quincy and Hollow, only that Quincy spirit pressure can stabilize Shinigami/Hollow hybrids (and then it's not required after the initial stabilization).
Quincy and Hollow natures are not opposites-it's Shinigami and Hollow powers that are opposites, as strongly Plus or Negative souls. Quincies are neither Pluses or Negatives, but something else entirely. Being a hybrid doesn't automatically make an entity stronger either, and it won't make Ichigo stronger to use all three. If it did, Aizen would have hollowfied himself and Gin. All it does is allow the entity to access powers from the other side of the spectrum, which is why Resurrecion is just a reversion back to the Hollow's pure Hollow state, not a hybrid form. The only reason Ichigo got apparently stronger when Hollowfied is because his Hollow was actually his true Zanpaktou, and his Shikai/Bankai were fake. That's why he didn't need to Hollowfy again to unlock his full power after the reforging, why the Vizard captains still got wrecked easily against foes that Rukia and Renji defeated after their Zero Squad training, and why Ichigo's own pure Hollow Resurrecion in the Ulqiuorra fight was way stronger than his Shinigami-Hollow hybrid forms. Finally, his "Final Getsuga Tenshou" follows the same trend, but how that works is a spoiler even for this story so I can't explain it now. Whether you agree with my interpretation of canon or not, in this story Ichigo is not an exception to the Quincy-Hollow incompatibility, or to Quincy-Shinigami incompatibility, which expresses itself in a different way than direct Soul Suicide (which has already been slightly explored with how Plus and Negative spirit pressures both scatter spirit particles).
Kaiya Azure: All very possible reasons.
Doctor Dandy: Of course it doesn't. The things which caused it never happened in canon. It's a significant plot point for this story, even aside from the fact that Rukia isn't weak at all. If anything, Rukia's canon feats prove that she can be comparable in Shikai to a Captain when she is sufficiently motivated (defeating Aaroniero solo), and her eventual Bankai puts her above almost all the Captains.
Guest: Regarding the brave souls, I don't know what's special about it, so the answer is no, for now. None of them seem to be using their Quincy powers.
Thanks to everyone for reviewing!