Sorry, it took me some time getting back to this. I was finishing up chapter 102 of 'Master of Death in Fairy Tail'. It was giving me a hard time. Also, this chapter almost gave me writer's block. It still did so it might not be very good. It just shows a little more of what Tenebris/Darkness does in her line of work.


21

Recap: 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.

Ichigo went straight for Ginjo, who was healed enough to get back up and fight. The two met in the middle and started clashing blades with one another. They locked blades with each other and held their position.

"How did you find us?" Ginjo demanded.

"How do you think we found you?" Ichigo grunted as he pushed away from his opponent. Ichigo jumped up and brought Zangetsu down, but Ginjo blocked the attack. The man seemed to struggle with holding Ichigo back, his face twisted in pain. Ichigo realized that Ginjo was still not fully healed after all. The injury that Tenebris inflicted on him had reopened and now he was bleeding through his bandages. 'I need to end this quickly or else Ginjo will die from blood loss,' thought Ichigo.

Ichigo tried to think of a way to end the battle quickly, but he knew he couldn't use any of his powerful attacks, like Getsuga, or else the building would fall on top of them. He blocked Ginjo's horizontal swing with Shiro Zangetsu, who became his sword again before they all charged in, and then brought out old man Zangetsu, swiping from the side and sending out a small burst of spirit energy at his enemy.

Ginjo was thrown back by the attack and further injured. He got back up slowly, pouring reiatsu into his sword.

"Getsuga…" Ginjo started, surprising Ichigo that he could even use that attack, but before either one of them could move or continue, vines shot out of the ground and wrapped around the older male tightly and prying the sword from his hand.

Ichigo looked around to see what happened and saw that everyone had captured the rest of Xcution already. Tenebris padded forward to stand a little aways from Ichigo and said, "I said not to stop until you have captured your opponent. You paused, which almost allowed Ginjo to bring the building down on our heads."

Ichigo scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Shiro appeared next to him and said, "Good thin' Feathers was 'ere to save the day then, huh King?"

"Yes...Thank you, Tenebris," said Ichigo.

Tenebris shrugged, "It's alright, but next time I tell you to not let up, don't let up. As you can see it's very effective." She pointed with her tail at the tied-up members of Xcution as she spoke.

"I'll keep that in mind…" Ichigo muttered quietly to himself as he watched Tenebris move Ginjo closer to the rest of his fellow captured friends.

"Now to figure out what to do with them," said Tenebris as she clapped her paws together like she was about to dig into a tasty meal.

"Well none upset the balance, except for this human," said Midnight, who pointed with his nose at Ginjo.

"Yes, he'll go to the World of Darkness," said Tenebris. "Ginjo, you're going to be punished for stealing a power that does not belong to you. Stealing another's powers and abilities is against Nature's Law. Also, you're being punished for threatening to destroy all the shinigami. As much as I don't like them at times, they are necessary to help keep the balance, just like humans and all forms of life and souls. Fox Fire, take him away please."

"Wait, don't you normally wait till they die and go to the World of Darkness?" asked Urahara.

"Most of the time, yes, but since he was going to go ahead and throw the balance to the wind by going to the Soul Society and attempting to wipe out the shinigami I can send them on their way sooner," she replied.

"Those who become an immediate threat to the balance of nature become exceptions to the 'wait till they die' rule," said Midnight.

"Our job is to keep balance no matter what. If someone threatens to do so, then we have no choice," said Fox Fire.

"You may go now, Fire," said Tenebris. Fox Fire nodded and left with Ginjo through a shadow.

"Why not do the same for the Soul Society?" asked Ichigo. "You said they messed with the balance before."

"If I were to send all of them to the World of Darkness for messing up the balance, then I would be doing the same thing. If they get worse with it, then the governing body would have to go and a Glow would have to take their place until the corruption and balance are fixed. After that, they find someone - a shinigami or another soul from the Soul Society - trustworthy to take over." Ichigo quietly said oh after hearing the explanation, and then he thanked his soul sister for it. "You're welcome, Ichi. Now to figure out what to do with the rest of these guys."

"Well...Ginjo shared the power he stole with them, but he's getting the full punishment for that," Midnight said.

"Yes...so we can't punish them for it. They aren't the ones to steal said power so it doesn't count. Plus, they were only following Ginjo's orders." Tenebris sounded like she was talking more to herself than Midnight. She looked all the members of Xcution in the eye then. "Did you want to follow Ginjo in his quest for revenge on the Soul Society because he was your leader, or did you do it for your own personal gain?" she asked.

The members all looked at each other before returning their gaze onto her. "We just wanted to be normal," said Riruka. "We were always rejected by humans, and Ginjo said we could live in the Soul Society where we could be accepted for our powers, but now I see that there is a way to live peacefully here."

Tenebris' eyes appeared to be piercing the young, pink-haired teen's soul for a few seconds, but to Ichigo, it felt like ten minutes. Tenebris nodded her head. "I see that you speak the truth, but do the others agree with it?" she said as her red eyes swept over them.

They all nodded, some right away, one or two were more hesitant to reply. "Alright, I'll give you all a second chance, but if you mess or threaten the balance again, either from under someone else's rule or your own, I'll be seeing you in the World of Darkness when your time comes." Tenebris turned to Midnight. "We can let them go now. Make sure they all head straight to their homes. Speaking of, I'm tired." Tenebris got up and turned for the door she broke down. "I'm going home, and the rest of you should too. Come on Ichi, Shiro, dad."

Ichigo yawned when Tenebris said she was tired - it appeared he was too. So he followed his soul sister out with his hollow zanpakuto and father right behind him. The others quickly leave the room after them to go home and sleep.

'Hopefully, the rest of the month won't be crazy,' Ichigo thought as he made it out of the school building.

TBC


The Fullbring arc is DONE! XD I know the fight wasn't great, but I figured that Ichigo would still be a lot more powerful than Ginjo could ever hope to be. Add to the fact that Ginjo had a nasty gash on his side and was losing blood fast. The perfect combo to end a fight quickly.

Ichi: So it's the 1,000 Years Blood War Arc next?

Enj/Dark: No, I'm going to put in a filler, fan-made arc here and then go for the final arc of the series. I'm doing it because I had the Fullbring arc happen sooner than in canon. So I'm filling the gap.

Shiro: How long is it going to be?

Enj/Dark: I don't think too long. Maybe 3 or 5 chapters.

Ichi: What's it about?

Enj/Dark: You'll see. Please review! ^^