Next week I'm going to try and finish the next chapter of Master of Death in Fairy Tail. I think I might be able to write the fight scene for it now, so this fanfic won't be updated then.

The reason I didn't update last week was because I needed a break. I've been trying to do stuff like making a Fiverr account. I plan on writing short stories for people there, but they are not fanfictions. Also I might have carpal tunnel. My wrist had been hurting all week.

Anyway, onto the story!^-^


20

Tenebris and Ichigo met up with a small group of darklings. The sight of them made Ichigo pause for a second, but then he shook his head and moved to continue following his soul sister.

"Alright, we'll start looking around here," said Tenebris. "You three will look all along the street next to us, while Ichigo, Shiro, and I look along this street."

Chitters, chirps, and yips sounded and the three dark beings vanished around the corner to search the street along with it's alleys and other off paths, such as the park that Ichigo knew was down that way.

"Shiro, look down that alley. You know what to do, you've seen me do this before," said Tenebris.

"On it!" Shiro saluted and took off down the shadowy alley.

"Ichigo, I want you to look in the alley across the street with me. I believe I promised to talk to you about almost killing some people?" Ichigo shifted nervously. He heard what Tenebris told him before they left Urahara's, but he couldn't help feeling guilty and dreadful.

"I'm right behind you," he said as he followed Tenebris into the alley.

Once inside, Tenebris lifted up a dumpster lid and choked at the smell of it. She covered her nose with a wing and searched for clues; although, Ichigo didn't know what kind of clue she would find there. The Dark Dragon closed the lid and pushed the dumpster out of the way, but there was nothing there, just a concrete floor and a dead rat.

Ichigo's face scrunched up and turned a little green. The smell and the dead rat made him want to get out of the alley as fast as possible.

"You know, Ichigo, if you start helping, we can get out of here faster," said Tenebris as she moved further down the right side of the alley, moving things away from the walls and the ground, looking for any possible clues. Ichigo wanted to take a deep breath, but he didn't want to choke like his soul sister did. He decided to move forward and along the left side of the alley.

Just as Ichigo moved a black trash bag, Tenebris spoke, "About what you were telling me earlier." Ichigo almost paused in his search to listen, but he decided that it would be best to keep his hands busy or else he would not stop fidgeting. "I'm guessing you're used to there not being many people around while fighting some powerful opponent, right?" She turned to look at him. Not trusting his voice, Ichigo just nodded in reply. "Well, with the mix of that and anger, it is a great recipe for disaster. You forget easily of the people around you when angered. All you can see at that point is your enemy."

"Are you saying I need to work on my anger?" asked Ichigo.

"You do need to work on that, as well as pressure, I'm assuming. Tsukishima attacked your friends and that made you angry and feel helpless. You seem to be in the state of mind that you could still save and protect everyone. That is not good, so we'll be working on that too. The other thing we're going to have to work on is refreshing you by knowing your surroundings. You seem to have gotten rusty in that. When was the last time you fought a good battle like this?"

"It was… The last battle was during the fight with Aizen."

"So a year has gone by since then," said Tenebris. "Well, that would make you rusty. When this is over, I'm drilling you and Shiro in training. By the time another big bad shows up, you will be ready."

"I've been training!" Ichigo protested.

"Yeah, with learning Shikai and Bankai with Muramasa, but not keeping an eye on your surroundings and a cap on your temper," said Tenebris. "You told me that you were learning bankai away from people, so we are going to do some of our training in the park during the day."

"But there will be people there," Ichigo said worriedly.

"That's the point. Now I believe we searched everything in the alley. Go into the next one while I check the rooftops." Ichigo watched as his crazy soul sister jumped up the walls and landed on the roof of the building behind him.

He sighed, accepting his fate, but he almost gagged at the smell in the alley. 'I'm getting out of here. Hopefully the next alley won't be so bad.'


Ichigo, Shiro and Tenebris searched up and down the street they were on, and when the three other darklings appeared again they changed the street. They were now on the street that the hospital sat on. They looked through the alleys, and they entered the hospital.

Tenebris said she doubted they would find Xcution there since the hospital belonged to Uryu's dad, but they searched every room they came across anyway. Ichigo and Shiro made sure to be quiet since they couldn't go through shadows like the darklings; they didn't want to wake any of the patients when they opened the doors.

Half way through looking around the building, Tenebris called out to them all. Ichigo found Shiro already with Tenebris along with another darkling that looked like some kind of raccoon mixed with something else Ichigo couldn't identify. The three other darklings that were with them appeared immediately after him and they all stood in wait.

"Mud Saw here is from Urahara's group," said Tenebris. "He just informed me that they had found Xcution."

Shiro groaned, "I was hoping we would be the ones to find them."

"At least someone did," said Ichigo. "So do we meet them there or what?"

"Yes, Saw will lead us to them," Tenebris answered. She looked at the raccoon and said, "Lead the way."

They followed the darkling out of the building. Ichigo asked why they didn't just use shadow travel. Tenebris told him it was because the others won't be doing that because some of them are in their human bodies. Ichigo didn't need to be told more. He knew that for a human, or anything living, would have to be cloaked in darkness to safely pass through the shadows. It was not a good feeling. To feel fear that clutches the heart in a vice and then going through a void is the worst thing Ichigo had ever experienced.

They go outside the hospital and move quickly. They jumped from roof to roof, ran along power lines, or ran down the streets, only jumping over obstacles when they needed to make a turn.

Mud Saw led them to Urahara and Fox Fire, both of whom were standing in front of Karakura High School.

Ichigo stopped next to his old teacher. "So they are in there?" he asked.

"Yup," said Urahara.

"Why is it always the school?" asked Shiro.

"Maybe it's a hotspot?" suggested Tenebris. "A spiritual hotspot?"

"We never checked it out to be sure," said Midnight.

Tenebris shrugged, "Well, I guess we'll be doing that tonight. Anyway, we should wait for the others to arrive. For now let's think of a plan of action."

"Maybe we could split up and search the school?" suggested Ichigo.

"I agree to that!" the high-pitched voice of Sky Jumper said from behind them. They turned to see her along with Uryu, Chad, Isshin, and their darkling partners walking up to them.

"No, we'll be sticking together," said Midnight. "Xcution will likely be together, so we should too. Besides, we could sniff them out."

"Also, not everyone is going in," said Tenebris. "All the humans and shinigami will be going, and so will I, Midnight, and Fox Fire."

"Aw man…" Sky pouted.

"I want the rest of you to go back home," said Tenebris. "We can take it from here."

Sky Jumper, Jet Black and the few darklings that joined each group had vanished into the shadows.

Ichigo looked at the school building and said, "Let's go then." He walked forward toward his school with everyone else following.

Once they were inside, Tenebris, Midnight, and Fox Fire sniffed the air. "I can smell Ginjo's scent the best," said Tenebris. "He will be the one to lead us to them."

"How come his scent is the strongest?" asked Uryu.

"Because of the blood," answered Shiro. "I could smell it from here. You really got him good, Feathers."

"I guess that's the reason why Xcution hadn't left for the Soul Society yet," Urahara mused softly, but loud enough for the others to hear.

"So where are they?" asked Isshin.

Tenebris sniffed toward the stairs that went up, but then scented the ones going down. "They are down in the basement," she said.

"Are they all there?" asked Ichigo.

"Yes, they are," replied Urahara. Ichigo guessed that he could feel their reiatsu.

"Let's be quiet," said Tenebris. "This way we'll get the jump on them again."

"They might have already sensed King," said Shiro with a grin.

"Hey, I'm hiding my spirit energy as best I can," Ichigo hissed back to his hollow zanpakuto.

"Really? Then I have bad news for you, Ichi, but you're rusty in that too then," said Tenebris.

Ichigo scowled in annoyance. "Let's just go." He began walking down the stairs, hearing the footsteps of the other's behind him as well as a quiet chuckle from Shiro. His scowl deepened.

They quietly approached the door leading to the basement. Tenebris, Midnight, and Fox Fire lowered their noses to the bottom of the door to find out if Xcution was right behind it or not. Afterward, Tenebris lifted a cautious paw up and opened the door slowly. She peeked around the small opening, and then opened the door fully when she saw no one.

She used her tail to tell the other's to follow her before progressing. Ichigo and the others fell in steps behind her and were led to another door. They could all hear voices coming from behind this one, but couldn't make out what was being said.

Tenebris looked back to them all, silently asking them if they were ready. They all nodded their heads and got ready to charge in. {Do not stop the moment this door is open,} Tenebris told them via telepathy. {Capture them all, no killing.} Ichigo and his friends and father nodded their heads in understanding, waiting for Tenebris to open the door Xcution was hiding behind.

Tenebris backed away from the door and stopped on the other side of the hallway. Ichigo watched as her muscles tensed. The Dark Dragon launched forward and broke the door down when she impacted. The moment she was through, Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, Isshin, Urahara, Midnight, and Fox Fire all ran in and attacked the shocked Xcution members.

TBC


And Done! XD I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Not much had happened, but the end of this arc should be in the next chapter.

Ichi: You're ending it?

Enj/Dark: Yes, I need to get back to Master of Death in Fairy Tail, and I think that there is no way Ginjo would recover enough to escape again, so he's a dead man.

Shiro: Then why didn't you just kill him earlier?

Enj/Dark: I wanted to show off my OCs a little.

Ichi: Are they going to be in this often?

Enj/Dark: No.

Ichi: Oh.

Shiro: Please review! XD