I thought I updated this, but it would appear that I didn't. :/ Well, here it is. Two chapters this week it seems!


19

"So...everyone is back to normal?" asked Ichigo as he and Tenebris sat in Urahara's shop with the owner of the shop and their dad.

"Yeah, they're all fine now," said Isshin. "It must have happened when you, Tenebris, killed the guy responsible."

"I see. I didn't mean to hit him with that attack. I don't think he deserved to die like that, but I was going to beat the heck out of him for what he did to Ichigo," said Tenebris. She turned to her soul brother and glared as she remembered something.

Ichigo noticed the glare and so did Urahara and Isshin. Ichigo leaned back as far as he could, almost falling over in the process, and waited for his soul sister to scold him.

"Get Shiro out here," she said, and then turned to the older males. "You two, please leave." Isshin and Urahara didn't need to be told twice. They got up and left the room, leaving Ichigo alone to his doom. Tenebris returned her gaze back to Ichigo and tilted her masked-covered face.

"I'm...working on it. Shiro is just giving me a hard time," he said.

'Shiro, get out here now! It will only get worse if you stay in there!' He shouted mentally to his hollow zanpakuto.

"I can hear her just fine in here. Why can't I just stay here?"

{You already know why. Now...GET OUT HERE!} Ichigo jumped when he heard Tenebris' voice in his head. Shiro quickly appeared, and just as he was solid, Tenebris slammed both of her wings into the back of their heads. They fell to the ground while holding their heads in pain, and groaned. Tenebris continued to glare at them. "How did you manage to get into so much trouble?! I want to know everything. When did they show up, how did they enter your life, and most importantly, HOW CAN YOU FALL FOR SUCH A TRICK?! Shiro, you should have smelled something off about those people, and yet you did nothing. Do either of you mind telling me what is going on?!"

Ichigo and Shiro looked up slowly as Tenebris ranted. They saw this coming, but they were grateful she hadn't hit them more. Ichigo started, "We didn't trust them at first. I met Ginjo when he was fighting with Shiro. He said he didn't know he was my zanpakuto." Ichigo continued to tell Tenebris everything that happened between when he met Ginjo to now.

The Dark Dragon turned to Shiro and said, "And you…?"

"I was only out to deal with Ginjo that one time. The day we met. I didn't notice anything off about his scent."

"Did you smell boiled mushrooms and vinegar on him?" she asked.

"No… I didn't smell anything of the sort."

"Did you smell it on Tsukishima?"

"I wasn't out during King's encounters with him."

Tenebris sighed and sat up straighter. "So Ginjo was his normal self when you met him, but there had to be some sign of when he was affected by Tsukishima. Did any of you notice it?"

Ichigo and Shiro turned to each other before looking back to her. "The first two times I met him I felt I couldn't trust him, but shortly after Uryu was put into the hospital, I felt I couldn't. I guess that should have sent up alarms, huh?" Ichigo said as he rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly this time.

"No...really?" Tenebris said with sarcasm leaking out of her voice like a fully opened dam.

"Okay, I made a mistake," said Ichigo. "A big one, but Chad was with them and he trusted them. He was fine up until Tsukishima attacked us during our training. At least...that's when I think he cut Chad."

"Alright, so let me sum this up: you met Ginjo Kujo when he was fighting Shiro, then he comes to your job, a job you got because your boss kidnapped you - I still find that very funny, by the way."

"Yeah, I noticed, it's not like you were laughing your tail off when I got to that point in the story or anything," Ichigo muttered.

Tenebris smirked in delight at hearing Ichigo's words, and then continued, "Ginjo asked for your help to train Chad while at your work, and you didn't believe him at the time. He left, and you got back to work. You and Uryu looked for Chad, because you both haven't seen him, and it was here that Uryu was attacked and placed into the hospital. You go to Xcution and find out that Chad has been training with them after all, and you learn about the kind of powers they have - The souls they use are like nature spirits, by the way. Tsukishima attacked Keigo and Mizuiro, which is most likely when they turned, and he attacked you while you were training Chad, and that was when he turned. Days later, you go home and train yourself in the Dark Forest to learn Muramasa's bankai, which you didn't get yet, and then when you went home, you found out about what Tsukishima did and flipped, ran away, got found, and brought to that big house where I followed Karin and the rest of them to. From here I know what happened, but I couldn't hear what Ginjo said to you besides my guess being, "I can't believe you fell for that". Did I miss anything? Besides the whole thing with them wanting to attack the Soul Society?"

Ichigo shook his head, and then said, "He did say that, but he also told me about being a substitute shinigami and how the combat pass worked. It would seem that the pass had no real value after all, and that it monitors the holder's reiatsu. It was a way for the shinigami to keep tabs on you."

Tenebris didn't look surprised, quite the opposite in fact. She sighed, bowing her head and shaking it. "Of course it is. I knew there was something off about it."

Ichigo shrugged, "Yeah, I would have told Ginjo that I already knew it had to be something like that, but I was still in shock about being stabbed in the back."

"Hmm…" Tenebris sounded, and then the door opened. Uryu was standing there, looking a little nervous.

"I heard no more shouting for twenty minutes, so I came to check to see if everything was okay," he said.

"Yeah, everything's fine," said Tenebris. "We're done talking anyway."

"How are Yuzu, Karin and the others?" asked Ichigo.

"They're fine. Chad woke up and will be joining us soon." Uryu came into the room and sat next to Ichigo. Not long after, Chad came in along with Urahara and Isshin.

"Darn Tenebris, you're just as scary as my lovely Masaki when she's mad," said Isshin.

"Thank you!" Tenebris said with a wag of her tail, making her look like a happy puppy.

"So what's the plan?" asked Shiro.

" Well, since they are on the run, we'll have to track them down as soon as possible," said Tenebris, who then looked over to Ichigo. "Do you know where they would go?"

"I only know of that warehouse, but I doubt they would go back there," Ichigo replied.

"We'll check there then." She looked over to Chad. "Do you know anything?"

"No, they were always at that warehouse. We were somewhere else though when Tsukishima attacked. The only other place I could think of is Tsukishima's mansion," said Chad.

"We'll check those places too."

"Um…" Tenebris looked over to Chad again and tilted her head in question.

"Yes…?"

"It's just...I heard you yelling at Ichigo for trusting Ginjo and the other, but… um…" Chad couldn't finish.

"Are you asking why I'm not yelling at you for the same thing?" she asked and Chad nodded. "From what Ichigo told me, Ginjo 'saved' your life. I can't blame you for trusting someone after that. It's in human nature to trust others."

"Not all humans are like that," pointed out Shiro.

"Most of them are, though," said Urahara. "If we couldn't trust, then we'd be lonely. We humans need companionship."

"Almost everything does," said Tenebris. "But back on track. Does anyone know where else they could be?"

They all shook their heads. "The only thing I can think of is that they're still somewhere in Karakura Town," said Urahara.

"So how will we find them?" asked Chad.

Tenebris smirked. "I'm glad you asked."

"King, cover your ears!" exclaimed Shiro as he covered his own ears. Ichigo and Isshin quickly followed, but Urahara, Chad, and Uryu had no idea what was about to happen.

Tenebris let out a loud, powerful roar that could travel across an eighth of the town. Chad, Uryu, and Urahara snapped their hands to their ears as soon as the sound processed in their brains.

Tenebris held the roar for a few seconds before quieting down. Once silence filled the air again, Ichigo and Shiro uncovered their ears slowly, the others soon followed. Uryu was about to ask why she did that, but then a spider dropped down from the ceiling.

"You didn't have to roar so loud, Darkness," said the spider, who was speaking the human language. "I've been here the whole time waiting for your return."

"Oh, sorry about that then," said Tenebris. "But why were you waiting here?"

"Midnight Ice asked some of us to stay in certain places. I was here, my brother in that big guy's home, and my sister is in your mundane home."

"Where in my home is she?"

"In the living room."

"That's why she isn't here," Tenebris muttered to herself. "I went through the bedroom window." She signed, "Anyway, can you go to the dark forest? I'm sure you heard everything we just spoke about?" The spider nodded. "Tell them that the Soul Society has a new enemy and that I need them to help me track these humans down before they can get to that place."

"On it!" The spider dropped down completely and vanished into a shadow.

"Aren't you going to warn the Soul Society?" asked Ichigo.

"They may have changed slightly," said Tenebris, "but not by much. I'm not going to let them mess this up. This is happening in my territory, and I will handle them my way."

"But what if the fullbringers make it to the Soul Society?" asked Urarhara.

"If they succeed, then at least the Soul Society will be reminded that they are not indestructible."

"Okay, Tenebris, why do you really not want to warn them?" asked Ichigo.

"I don't want the shinigami coming here. They will mess it up."

"How?" asked Chad.

"They mess with the balance as it is. Their job was supposed to help keep that, but only by going after other dead things like them. Like hollows. They were not to deal with the living. The fullbringers are alive. My job is to make sure the balance of nature stays neutral, and if something tips it, I or a Glow have to deal with it. In this case, the fullbringers are planning to disrupt the balance by going to the Soul Society and most likely getting themselves killed while trying to get revenge. If you die in the Soul Society, you don't stay there, you go straight to either the World of Darkness, Light, Hell, or the cycle of rebirth. Only the World of Light is the better of them, but...you know...I have no idea how the World of Light handles their souls. I know it's like a school though." Tenebris shrugged. "Anyway, where was I going with this…? Oh yeah, revenge is a form of dark corruption. Ginjo I will have no choice but to kill, but the others could be saved. They are just following the man that saved them from the cruelty of the world."

"I see where you're going with this," said Isshin. "You're worried that the shinigami will kill all of them when they don't have to."

"Ding, Ding, Ding! Someone give this man a prize!" Tenebris clapped her paws happily when Isshin guessed right. He was a shinigami after all, he would understand where she was going with it.

"So you're not warning them, because if you did, they might come here," Ichigo said in realization.

Urahara made a sound that sounded like he may have made a mistake. Tenebris slowly turned her head toward the blond-haired man and looked him in his gray eyes. "What did you do?"

"I may have told them that Ginjo was in town. They have been searching for him for years now, and they asked me to contact them should I see him," replied Urahara.

Tenebris was not impressed. "How long do we have?"

"I'm sorry?" asked Urarhara.

"You know what I meant."

"I'd say you have until the end of the day."

Tenebris sighed, "Good thing I have a search party underway already then. Speaking of…"

Three spiders returned before Tenebris. One of them was the one she spoke to early, and the other two were his siblings. "Dark Dragon, we can safely say that the fullbringers are in none of the hideouts," said the lone female.

Tenebris nodded her head in thanks. "Thank you, are the others searching the rest of the town?"

"Yes, Darkness," said one of the males.

"Alright, I'll be joining in the search now, and you guys are helping," said Tenerbis while pointing with her tail at the humans and shinigami in the room. She turned back to the spiders. "I want you to bring four darklings here to be assigned to one of my friends here. I need them to help out in finding the fullbringer the most effective way possible." The spiders nodded.

"Also, welcome back, Darkness," they said and vanished in the shadow again.

"Why do we need to be assigned to a darkling?" asked Uryu.

"They will teach you how to find something that has gone missing. You will know all hiding spots in this town by the end of the night. You will be looking under bridges, sewers, hidden alleys, forests, rocks - yes rocks, there could be a manhole under one," she explained.

"Oh…" Uryu, Isshin, Chad, and Ichigo all said. Only Urahara didn't look surprised, but that might have something to do with how he made secret training grounds in mountain sides, and one in his basement.

"Now, let's get ready to hunt the fullbringers down," said Tenebris as she and the others got up.

Ichigo stood up as well to get ready and enter his shinigami form, but Zangetsu stopped him. "Ichigo, you should talk to Tenebris about what happened a few days ago."

'Now?!'

"What's wrong, Ichi?" Ichigo snapped his head over to Tenebris, who was now in front of him with concern showing in her red eyes.

Ichigo didn't say anything at first, too nervous, but when his soul sister tilted her head, he said, "Can I talk to you, alone?" She nodded and followed him into another room.

"A few days ago, I was fighting Tsukishima. I allowed my anger to get the best of me, and the result was almost hurting and even killing some bystanders," said Ichigo. His head was down so Tenebris could see his face. He was worried about what her expression was going to be. He may be the big brother, but her soul was much older than he was.

"I see…" said Tenebris. "We'll talk about this while we search for the fullbringers. I want to hear everything about what happened to cause such a misstep."

"Alright," said Ichigo, but he sounded reluctant.

"Let's go, we need to find the fullbringers before the shinigami get here," Tenebris said as she was walking out the door. "You're not in trouble, Ichi." Ichigo's head snapped up, finally looking at his soul sister. "Everyone makes mistakes like that. I have killed people by accident. At least you haven't, right?" She walked through the open door to the outside.

Ichigo didn't follow right away. He was relieved that she wasn't mad at him again; he didn't think he could handle another scolding from her today. Instead she was going to help him through it while they searched for the enemy. He walked out the door and met with Tenebris, Uryu, Isshin, Urahara, Shiro and Chad. With them were four more darklings, one of them being Midnight Ice.

"Are we all here?" asked Tenebris. Everyone announced that they were. "Alright, Midnight Ice, you're with Isshin, Jet Black, you're with Uryu, Fox Fire, you're with Urahara, Sky Jumper, you're with Chad."

A huge black wolf with blue eyes stood by Isshin. A black raven with red eyes and a long snake tail perched on Uryu's shoulder. A nine-tailed, silver fox with solid light blue eyes sat next to Urahara, and a white and blue rabbit with floppy ears and white eyes bounced on Chad's head.

"Ichigo, Shiro, you're with me. Now that everyone is paired up, let's get moving!"

"Right!"

TBC


Not much happened in this chapter, but it was a good build up...maybe. I haven't been feeling like myself for the past few days.

Ichi: What's wrong?

Enj/Dark: Upset stomach.

Shiro: That sucks.

Enj/Dark: You have no idea. -_-;

Ichi: Please review!