18

recap: "Right…" said Ichigo, who was not taking his brown eyes off of the dangerous man in the room. "Yuzu, Karin, could I talk to our...cousin alone for a moment?"

"Sure, I need to finish dinner anyway," Yuzu said, who then left for the kitchen after speaking. Karin said she'd help set the table and followed her twin.

Once Ichigo was alone with his enemy, he demanded, "What are you doing here?"

"What, I can't visit my family?" asked Tsukishima mockingly.

"We're not family!" Ichigo growled. "What did you do to my sisters?"

"What…? I didn't do anything." Tsukishima stood from his seat and began to walk over to Ichigo. "Are you feeling alright, Ichigo?"

"Quite it, you're not going to fool me! You used your powers on my sisters, didn't you?! Undo it now! They have nothing to do with this!" Ichigo's voice raised with each demand.

"Ichigo, Tsukishima, your friends are here!" Ichigo heard Karin say from the front door. He hadn't even heard the doorbell ring.

The orange-haired teen became nervous. What friends was Karin talking about? He slowly turned his head to look and before he saw who they were, he heard their voices.

"Hey guys! Tsukishima, you should have called us earlier," said Keigo.

"Yeah, you should have let us know you were coming," said Mizuiru.

"Sorry, guys. I was just getting settled in," replied Tsukishima with a friendly smile.

Ichigo couldn't speak. This had to be some kind of mistake. How did Tsukishima get all of his friends?

"King, I'm going to kill him," said Shiro from within Ichigo's inner world. "But first, I'm going to break his arms and hands so he can never use that sword of his again."

"For once, I agree," said old man Zangetsu. Ichigo heard Kikoo and Muramasa say what they wanted to do with Tsukishima before ending the man's life.

"Come on, Ichigo! It's time to party!" said Keigo.

"Yeah, come on, Ichigo. I'll get the music started," said Tatsuki.

Ichigo felt his panic start to rise. He tried to take in deep breaths, but he wasn't calming down. Everyone was talking, everyone was brainwashed, and he was the only one that could see it. It was his family, and he failed to protect them.

"Oh, I should also call Chad," said Tsukishima, who was looking at Ichigo from the corner of his eye.

Ichigo clenched his teeth and growled before running over to the taller man and punching him in the face.

"Ichigo, why did you do that?!" demanded Yuzu, who came back in to greet the other guests.

Everyone around him started ordering him to apologize to Tsukishima. Ichigo couldn't help but feel betrayed. Tsukishima had everyone he cared for turn on him. He couldn't fight the man here, so the young, orange-haired teen ran out the door of his house and down a few blocks. He tried to think of what to do, but his mind was stubbornly holding onto the fact that he just left his family and friends behind to deal with a dangerous man on their own.

"King, what are you doing?!" Shiro shouted.

"You should have ran up to your room and tried to get Tenebris out of her seal," said Zangetsu.

'Too late to do that now,' said Kikoo.

Ichigo stopped running and leaned his back against a wall. "Sorry guys, I didn't think of that," he replied. "Maybe we could sneak back in?" he questioned, but then he heard someone close by. The teen became defensive and waited to see who it was. Ginjo Kugo came into view, and held his hands up to show he meant no harm.

"It's just me, Ichigo. If you're here that means that Tsukishima got your friends too, right?" asked Ginjo.

"He got the other members of Xcution, too?" questioned Ichigo more to himself than Ginjo, but the older man answered it nonetheless.

"Yeah, he did."


Karin couldn't believe what happened. Ichigo just hit their cousin and then ran. What had happened between the two of them? They used to be so close. She couldn't do anything as she watched Ichigo take off out of the house.

'I can't believe I'm thinking this, but I wish dad was here. He could help Ichigo...wait a minute…" An idea formed in Karin's head. There was someone else that could help her brother, but she would have to be sneaky. She didn't want Tsukishima to think that she had no faith in him in helping Ichigo.

"Why don't we all go to my place," said Tsukishima. "We'll meet Ichigo there."

"That's a good idea, but he should apologize for hitting you," said Tatsuki.

"I'm sure he's just under stress."

Karin had to put her plan into action now if she wanted to help her brother in the most effective way possible. "Alright, I just have to get something from my room first," she said to them before heading upstairs.

She made sure no one followed her and then went into Ichigo's room. In his room was a dark purple crystal that took up half of it's space. Karin closed the door and walked over to the huge gem that pulsed with dark energy. She remembered Ichigo telling her how long it would take for Tenebris to be able to return, and that time was now. It had been a year exactly since the fall of Aizen.

The young, black-haird girl laid her hand gently onto the smooth, yet sharp, surface of the crystal, and heard whispering words in her head. She repeated them as if in a trance, and when she finished, the crystal glowed a deep, blinding purple. She had to cover her eyes in fear of losing her sight. When the glow died down, a black and red dragon stood before her. The dragon's black, red tipped, feathered wings loosely spread open, as if getting ready to guard herself. Red on purple eyes surveyed the room, most likely looking for Ichigo.

Karin coughed lightly to get Tenebris' attention. The dragon looked down in wonder and then surprised at seeing her and not Ichigo, which reminded Karin as to why she came to the dragon in the first place.

"You have to help, Tenebris. Ichigo has gone crazy!" she said in concern.


Tenebris tilted her head in wonderment and concern. 'What kind of trouble did you get into this time, Ichigo?' she questioned thoughtfully. "What happened?"

"Our cousin, Tsukishima, came over, and Ichigo acted like he was the enemy!" Tenebris was far beyond confused now.

'Who the heck is Tsukishima?' she thought. 'We don't have a cousin going by that name, last I checked. But if Ichigo is acting like this man is an enemy, then there is a good chance that he is.'

Tenebris decided that she needed more information, so she said, "That doesn't sound like Ichigo, but please tell me what happened. What did Tsukishima do and how did it end up with the two fighting?"

"Tsukishima didn't do anything to anger Ichigo," said Karin. "It's like Ichigo doesn't remember all the time Tsukishima helped us and him from all that happened last year."

"He helped last year?"

"Don't you remember? Tsukishima was there to help you two in your fight to take down Aizen."

"Oh yeah~ I remember now! Sorry, it's just...I've been in this crystal for so long that I forgot some things. So Tsukishima helped and Ichigo doesn't remember, Ichigo acted like he was the enemy, and...who else remembers Tsukishima helping us?" 'What is this guy's power? How did he get close enough to our family that his power is affecting them to this point? ...What is that smell?' Tenebris noticed a scent coming off of her sister that wasn't supposed to be there. It started at her chest like an entrance point, and covered her mind like some kind of virus. She couldn't even begin to describe the smell, it was bad, but not down-right horrible, like boiling mushrooms mixed in vinegar.

'Yeah on second thought, that is a horrible combo, but it's deluded thankfully. It's the best way to describe it too,' Tenebris thought. 'Mushrooms grow and can affect people's minds, and the smell of vinegar clings to things for quite some time. Is this the scent of Tsukishima's power?'

"You mean who else is not going crazy? It's just Ichigo. Keigo, Mizuriu, Tatsuki, Chad, Yuzu, and I all remember what happened. You seemed to have almost forgotten, but you had an excuse and remembered after reminding you. What's brother's?"

"Hmm...I'll find out what's going on. Where do you think I could find Ichigo?"

"Tsukishima said that Ichigo will meet up with us at his place."

Tenebris nodded her head as a plan began to form. "Alright, you guys go on ahead and I'll be there shortly," she said. She watched as Karin left the room and listened as her footsteps made it by the stairs. Once they began to fade, Tenebris shut the lights and looked out through the window. She watched as Yuzu, Karin, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuriu, and some unknown man, who must be Tsukishima, left the house and started walking down the road.

Tenebris opened the window and crawled out. Once she had it closed behind her, she followed the small group like a shadow.

It was quite a long walk. Tenebris thought that maybe this was a record for how long she had to follow someone stealthily. She would have flown above them, but if the moonlight hit her and placed her shadow in front of the others, they would know they were being followed. So, she had to stalk. She had climbed trees, jumped rooftops, and hidden in shadowy alleys until they made it to a big house.

She waited under a bush until everyone had gone in. Once they were inside, she climbed another tree and sat on a branch, hiding in the darkness created by the bare branches. 'Now I just have to wait for Ichigo to show up. I already sense his reiatsu heading this way, but who are the other two?'

She didn't have to wait long to get somewhat of an answer. She saw Ichigo's bright, orange hair enter the yard along with a young teen with blond hair and with a PSP in his hands, and an older man with broad shoulders and black hair.

The older, unknown man had the same scent as Karin and the rest of Ichigo's friends did, that same boiled mushroom mixed in with vinegar. Tsukishima had used his power on this taller man, but why did he look like he was on Ichigo's side? Tenebris noticed that the oldest of the group was staying close to Ichigo like he was trying to protect him.

'Hmm...The young one doesn't have that smell on him, and clearly he is an enemy if Ichigo's guard is up. The older guy seems to know the younger and was or is close to him, so that would mean that this was one. Big. Trap set up for my brother.' Tenebris sighed and said quietly, "How in the world do you fall for something like this? Shiro should have been able to smell that disgusting scent."

She watched as the three males entered the mansion. She counted from ten.

'Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…' A crash was heard from the inside; a fight had broken out on the second level of the home.

The dark dragon followed the sounds of the fighting up toward the roof of the building close by. Ichigo was fighting Tsukishima, but Chad tried to get Ichigo away from him, but the big man she saw with her brother held him, and quite a few others, back. She heard Ichigo call the man Ginjo when he saw him being attacked from behind. Ginjo blocked the attack with his sword and started fighting a girl with pink hair.

Tenebris stalked over to where Chad was getting up and about to enter the fight again.

"Why Ichigo? Why are you acting like this? I never thought I would have to fight you. That wasn't the reason I wanted to get stronger," Chad said, but before he could charge forward again, Tenebris grabbed him by the face with one of her paws and wrapped him in a cocoon with her other arm, wings, and tail.

"It's not Ichigo that is acting strange, Chad. It is you. Tsukishima is a bad man that had brainwashed you without you even knowing. Now...sleep." Tenebris used Sleep Spore to knock the big teen out. She made a guilty expression when she looked at him. She could already see the nightmares forming in his mind. That was the down-side to using that ability - it always gave the target nightmares.

'I could counter it, but I don't have the time to. I can't sit here and sing a soothing lullaby to chase the bad dreams away. Now I just have to do the same for the rest of them. Sorry guys,' Tenebris thought as she went to do just that.

She made it to the room holding all of their friends and family, but before she could fill the room with spores, her father and Urahara used a spell to do what she had planned to. Seeing that they had it covered, she went back to help Ichigo.

When she got back, Uryu was there and pointing an arrow at Ginjo, who was behind Ichigo. Uryu was telling Ichigo to move aside, but Ichigo was being stubborn. That's when Uryu shouted, "THE ONE THAT ATTACKED ME IS STANDING RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

Tenebris couldn't see his shocked expression until Ichigo turned around to face Ginjo, who was standing there with a dark, smug smirk on his creepy face. Then without warning, he stabbed Ichigo in the chest.

Tenebris growled at what she saw. This human had hurt her soul brother deeply, and he must die for that.

Ginjo was talking to her brother, who was just in shock, but some of Ichigo's reiatsu was being drained from him. She couldn't hear what was being said, but she had a good idea. It was the normal bad guy talk. "I can't believe it was that easy to trick you," was her guess of what this human was saying, which just made her more bloodthirsty.

When just a little more of Ichigo's reiatsu was drained, Ginjo shared the stolen energy with the others she didn't know. The only one who didn't look like she wanted it was that pink-haired girl, but she got it anyway.

Afterward, Ginjo said something else to Ichigo, but this time loud enough for Tenebris to hear. "Now, with this power, we can finally get our revenge on the Soul Society! We thank you, Ichigo for giving it to us." Ginjo then opened a gate that would lead them to the afterlife, but Tenebris had seen enough.

She realised a ton of her reiatsu while charging up a dark breath. All the others on the roof with Ichigo all fell to their knees from under the pressure. Tenebris roared with a screech, and let loose the attack. The darkness took on the form of a beam and, as fast as lightning, crashed into the gate, destroying it, but the attack didn't stop. The dark beam of raw energy kept going until it hit Tsukishima as well. The man went flying back and off the rooftop. Tenebris felt Tsukishima's spirit energy weakened quickly. He wasn't going to live.

"Tsukishima!" Ginjo called out. But it would seem he knew that he had something else to worry about, like what it was that caused that attack. He turned to see Tenebris diving down toward him with her claws in front of her, ready to tear the man to shreds.

Ginjo quickly dodged the attack, but barely. One of the claws had gotten him on his side, just below his ribcage. He tried to back away some more when he realized that the dark dragon was relentless in her attacks. When Tenebris missed her first strike, she spun in a 180 and attacked with her long, barbed-tipped tail. It hit Ginjo in the same place her claw had landed, and sent him flying off the roof next.

Tenebris' eyes landed on the other's on the roof and charged up another dark breath, but just as she was realising it, the enemy jumped off the part of the roof that was now destroyed. Tenebris flew over to the ledge and was about to attack again, but no one was there anymore. She circled around the building a few times and saw nothing of the enemy. She went back to Ichigo, who was looking at her like he knew he was in trouble. Uryu was right beside him.

"Remind me to never get on her bad side," Uryu said softly to Ichigo, who nodded in agreement.

Tenebris stood right in front of her soul brother and brought her muzzle close to his face. Once she was piercing his brown eyes with her red ones, she said, "I can't leave you alone for a whole year without you getting into some kind of trouble, can I?"

TBC


Well, xcution escaped. Now they are going to have to be hunted down and stopped before they could go to the Soul Society.

Ichi: Please don't kill me. I didn't do anything wrong.

Shiro: Same here.

Enj/Dark: We'll have this talk in the next chapter. Please review! ^_^