Chapter 18: Confrontations part II

Ichigo was enjoying a meal with his friends and family. Thomas was here, Keiji and Meiko were also there, and for now, everything was peaceful. They were all just talking amongst themselves, enjoying each others company and just in general having a good time. Ichigo was happy to have this moment and hoped that it wouldn't be interrupted by anything stupid. Unfortunately, his life just had a way of screwing with him.

Right now, though, Ichigo was locked in a battle with both Grimmjow and Toshiro. How did this happen? Simple really.

[Thirty minutes earlier]

Ichigo had finally summoned up the courage to do it. He was going to do this with her and this time go all the way. This time, nothing was going to stop him from seeing his best friend.

Ichigo had been feeling very down lately. Ever since he spoke to the captain a few days ago, he's been having a sinking feeling that he should go and see Tatsuki before something happened to her. Fortunately, so far nothing was going on in Karakura Town aside from a few hollows here and there, but nothing from Aizen just yet. It took our chibi hero a lot of convincing to his mother to finally go out and see Tatsuki, and he was not going to pass this chance up.

He looked at himself in the mirror in his room and made sure he looked alright. His hair was tied up, his clothes were simple and clean, and he looked well rested for a kid. Right now he was wearing a simple white sweater with orange sleeves and a pair of black jeans. He nodded his head and put on a determined look before heading out of his room. When he went downstairs he saw his friends and family all doing various different things.

Wonderwiess and Thomas were talking to each other while Hooleer was finding some cobwebs very interesting right now.

Meiko and Keiji were watching T.V. with Apache, Mila Rose and Sun-Sun. The brother/sister duo completely enamored with the idea of tiny humans in a box doing various things for some reason or another.

Yuzu was sitting in the Lotus position with her zanpakuto on her lap and her eyes closed. She was focusing on trying to awaken her Bankai, so Ichigo decided not to disturb her.

Karin was in the kitchen getting a bottle of water. It looked like she was working out or practicing with her bow since she looked a little exhausted. Ichigo couldn't tell, so he left it alone for now.

The only ones missing were Halibel, Neliel and Masaki. Ichigo knew that they were most likely getting groceries for everyone or at the very least keeping those soul reapers off their backs for now.

Ichigo went towards the door before yelling out. "Okay guys! I'm off to see Tatsuki!"

Before he could put on his white and blue shoes on, Karin was already standing behind him thanks to her own speed. "Are you sure about this Ichigo?" She asked him in a concerned tone. "I mean, Tatsuki is gonna be real freaked out when she sees you and you look the same as you did back when you died. Maybe you should rethink this."

Ichigo put his shoes on, then his jacket, even though he wouldn't get cold from the winter season, and turned to his sister with a smile. "Don't worry Karin. I know what I'm doing. And besides, mom did say as long as I don't cause any unnecessary trouble, things should be fine."

Karin wanted to say some more, but seeing the way her brother was about this, his smiling face and his confidence that this would go just fine made her relent. With a sigh, Karin nodded and hugged her brother.

"I'll be back later guys!" Ichigo yelled out to the others. He got a mixed reaction from everyone telling him to either be safe or be careful. Ichigo gave them a thumbs up and headed out of the door.

He knew that this early in the morning on a Tuesday would mean that most likely she was at school. Thanks to his mother, who kept in contact with Karin's mom, she was able to get the address of the high school Tatsuki was attending and wrote it down on a piece of paper for Ichigo to use. He took the paper out of his pocket and briefly looked at the address before nodding to himself, placing the paper back into his pocket, and then sonidoed to the rooftops. He decided not to use his full speed as he didn't want to know what would happen to regular people if he did, so he just wound up leaping from one rooftop to the other. As he was doing this, he was talking to Orenji.

"So what do you think I should say when I meet her Orenji?" He asked.

"Hmm... I don't really know man." Orenji answered him, and Ichigo could feel the shrug from the dragon. "But I'm pretty sure that you'll know when you see her. Just make sure she's the only one that sees you and no one else. Alright?" The dragon warned.

"Got it. Thanks Orenji." Ichigo nodded and continued on to the school.

He saw it a little ways off and landed on an adjacent rooftop to watch what was going on down below. He looked around as students started to walk through the gates and into the building to start school. He continued to look around until he saw Tatsuki walking with an orange haired girl, a guy with glasses that Ichigo knew from the hospital, a really tall guy, a guy that was very energetic and another guy who was on his phone a lot. Ichigo watched them and saw that the orange haired girl was talking to Tatsuki like they were the best of friends. This made Ichigo happy to know that she was happy now.

He would have to wait until school was over to go and see her, so for the time being Ichigo was about to talk to Orenji some more. Unfortunately, that was when a garganta opened up above the school. Ichigo looked up with horror in his eyes as he saw Grimmjow step out of it. Ichigo prepared himself by drawing his blade, not wanting to take a risk with everyone here, especially Tatsuki. Grimmjow saw his adversary and gave a feral grin. He had been looking forward to this for some time now.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Ichigo said to himself. "Doesn't he ever get sick of this?"

Ichigo jumped up to the group and looked on with a scowl. Pretty hard to look intimidating when you're a chibi, but Ichigo tried his damnedest to do so. Grimmjow kept the same grin as he saw the angered face on the chibi arrancar's face. He didn't think that right after opening a garganta that he would see the boy so fast. Didn't matter to him though. As long as he finally got to kill the very person he despised moreso than Aizen or even Ulquiorra.

"Well, well well." Grimmjow started as he put his hands in his pockets. "Who would've thought that I would find you right out the gate like this? Guess it's time for our rematch Kurosaki!"

Ichigo sighed as the older arrancar drew his blade to him and charged. Ichigo brought up his own blade and blocked him, but was being pushed back in the process. Grimmjow had clearly gotten stronger since their last fight and Ichigo could feel the difference in his attacks. They were more feral and ferocious. Random and precise all at the same time. There was no style to his attacks, only anger and a lust for proving he was the best. Ichigo gritted his teeth as dodged and blocked as best as he could, but a swift kick to his side sent him tumbling through the air. He brought out his wings and stopped himself from going any further before charging at Grimmjow at impossible speeds. He cut the arrancar in his right side and was about to deliver a devastating slash to his back, but was distracted when he felt a familiar spirit energy approaching them both. That moments hesitation was enough for Grimmjow to sonido away from the chibi as the soul reaper captain assigned to this area appeared, flanked by the others.

"Heh." Grimmjow grinned as he looked to them for a moment. "Looks like this just got interesting."

"Kurosaki." Toshiro started as he drew his blade, causing the chibi to take a defensive stance towards him. "Stand down while we deal with these arrancar. Afterwards, we will detain and bring you back to the soul society."

"I said I wasn't a part of this war!" Ichigo yelled out in annoyance. "Why is everyone trying to drag me into something that's not my fault?!"

"Not your fault?!" Ikkaku yelled out.

"If it wasn't for you, then we would have had Aizen back at the Sokyoku." Toshiro spoke with venom in his voice. "You are the sole reason this war even began!"

Before Ichigo could retort, Toshiro already flashed to him. Their swords clashed as they both were pushing each other back. Grimmjow jumped in from behind Ichigo, intent on using any means to finally kill his adversary. Ichigo kicked Toshiro away and sonidoed away from the two.

Now, we're all caught up to the here and now. Ichigo held his blade and was prepared to face two opponents. He already knew why Grimmjow hated him, but Toshiro was different. The young captain seemed to despise the chibi arrancar with a burning passion. Ichigo had no idea why. Sure, the fact that he is the reason Aizen got away is something, but not enough to hate him over. The two charged at him and he was forced to go on the defensive.

"Why?" He thought to himself. "Why is this happening? Why does this captain hat me so much? Seriously? Why does everyone involved with this war seem to get really weird with me?"

"Maybe it's because of Yuwaku Shimasu?" Orenji spoke up from his mind.

"But I thought that only did weird stuff to girls." Ichigo asked him as he dodged another strike from Grimmjow.

"Well, I did mention that really it just affects others differently." Orenji continued. "Maybe it's the cause as to why the captain here and Grimmjow hate you so much."

"Oh man. Then wouldn't that mean that most of the guys in the soul society hate me too?"

"Wouldn't doubt that. Watch out!" Orenji warned as he saw both Ikkaku and Yumichika preparing to attack from behind.

Ichigo sonidoed away from them all and was really not liking his odds now.

"Orenji." Ichigo started as he stood with his blade pointed towards them.

"Yeah?" Orenji answered, concerned.

"It's times like these where I could really use some help." Ichigo spoke to his inner hollow dragon, unaware of something else that his Yuwaku Shimasu could do.

[Urahara training grounds]

Right now, Yoruichi was in a spar with her zanpakuto. She was doing much better than last time as she was able to land a few strikes on Munraitokyatto and even push her back considerably. The two were actually enjoying their fight, until Yoruichi heard an all too familiar voice in her head.

"Help."

She stopped and for a very brief moment, her eyes changed from their usual bright yellow to a piercing white color. The white disappeared and was replaced by her regular eyes, but now a white ring could be seen around her iris's. She looked at Munraitokyatto and the were cat nodded before changing back to her sword form. Yoruichi took it and quickly rushed to where Ichigo's voice was coming from, calling out to her.

[Kurosaki house]

Right now, everyone was doing their own things at the house. Nothing really out of the ordinary, at least until the girls, aside from Masaki who was about to head out to shop while Karin and Yuzu were at school, all heard Ichigo's voice in their heads. Mila Rose, Apache, Sun-Sun, Neliel, Halibel, and Hooleer all heard it and their eyes also flashed white before the ring was on their iris's. They all stood up, much to Meiko, Keiji, Thomas and Wonderweiss's surprise, and hopped out of their gigai's. Before any of the boys or Meiko could say anything, the six were gone.

They said nothing as they leapt from rooftop to rooftop, eventually running into Yoruichi. The six arrancar's looked at the former soul reaper captain and they nodded, doubling their speed to reach Ichigo.

Back at the fight, Ichigo was really just dodging and blocking the onslaught. True, he could use his real power, or maybe even his release form, but he just kept worrying that something might go wrong and the school would get caught in the crossfire. He blocked another cero from Grimmjow and an ice dragon from Toshiro only to get caught with a kick to the gut from said Espada. As Ichigo tried to regain his balance, he failed to notice Ikkaku raising his blade and bringing it down to him. Orenji warned him all too late, but that was when he heard the sound of steel on steel. He turned around and saw that woman with the long orange hair that he saw not too long ago stopping Ikkaku's strike with her zanpakuto.

"Rangiku?!" Ikkaku yelled in surprise as the busty lieutenant didn't respond.

Instead, she forced his blade off of hers and kicked him with full force in the gut. The strike sent Ikkaku back and he skidded to a stop next to Yumichika. Ichigo looked up at her and for some reason felt something connecting to him. She turned towards him with a warm smile and he saw her eyes had a white ring around the iris's. He had no idea what was going on, but that was when he felt even more tugs on his soul coming in fast. He turned and saw the girls and Yoruichi making their way towards the battle. When he saw them all, he smiled and stood up with vigor in his posture now. The girls all flashed around him, protecting him from all sides.

"Whoa." Ichigo started as saw that they all had the same ring on their eyes. He smiled at this and then just had to wonder. "Just what all does that Yuwaku Shimasu do?

Gonna end this one here. I think this is a good way to end this chapter. As I said in my latest updated story, Ichigo and his brothers, I'm gonna try and post every Monday, Wednsday, Friday and Saturday. Check out that stories latest chapter to read about a massive crossover story of almost all my Bleach fics all in one. I think you guys are gonna enjoy that.

Hope ya'll enjoyed this story. Stay awesome and as always,

PEACE!