Chapter 18: Confrontation finale

Ichigo continued to stand in the center as the girls continued to circle around him protectively. He had a vague idea of what was going on, but right now couldn't really put his finger on it. The looks in their eyes had told him that they were under some kind of spell, yet it didn't feel that way. He felt the multiple tugs on his soul and couldn't shake the feeling that his speed really does some odd things to people.

"Just who in the hell are you bitches supposed to be!?" Grimmjow yelled out in anger as he gripped his zanpakuto tightly in his rage.

He received no response from the group of eight which angered him even more.

"Rangiku!" Toshiro yelled out. "What is the meaning of this?! Get out of the way, now!"

No response from the busty lieutenant.

Both Yumichika and Ikkaku were flabbergasted by what they were seeing as well as confused.

Off in the distance(AN: completely forgot to mention this in the last chapter BTW, my bad) the forms of Yammy and another arrancar named Luppi stood back to watch as Grimmjow had his fun up until now. They had one job to do and now this just made things a bit more complicated. The two sonidoed next to Grimmjow and were utterly confused as to why there was so much animosity and anger to this kid. There was a silence for a moment before Grimmjow decided to rush in to finish off his rival. He was only a few feet away when he was met with three powerful kicks to the face, courtesy of Yoruichi, Neliel and Halibel. He flew back a considerable amount before finally skidding to a stop, bloody head and all.

The three had a very serious looks on their faces when Grimmjow stopped and stared back at them with hatred in his eyes. They didn't even wait for him to recover before rushing him from all sides. Grimmjow couldn't react fast enough as he was met with a kick to his chin by Yoruichi, sending him skyward. Halibel used her zanpakuto to summon a torrent of water and fired it towards the man. He cursed and fired a powerful cero that obliterated the water before he stopped himself in midair.

"You fuckin bitches!" Grimmjow yelled out before drawing his sword, or attempting to.

He felt a hand on his wrist, stopping him from moving his arm and turned to see Neliel standing behind him. She reversed gripped her zanpakuto and struck him in the gut with the handle, hard. That sent him flying away at breakneck speeds. All the men plus Ichigo were stunned by what they just saw.

"That was so cool." Ichigo said to himself as the three returned to the circle around him.

Toshiro was furious at this point and he didn't even truly know why. He raised his blade into the air and shouted out, "Rain over the frosted heavens, Hyorinmaru!"

A large ice dragon fired from his zanpakuto as he launched it towards the group at high speeds. Ichigo was worried a bit and wanted to step in, but was stopped when Mila Rose, Apache and Sun-Sun all combined their own cero's and fired it at the large dragon. Their combined attack was just enough to cancel both attacks and cause a large explosion to occur. Ichigo watched with wide eyes at what he just saw. Not only did all three work together to stop the young captains attack, they did so without even arguing with each other for a single second. Orenji face-palmed that that was what Ichigo was most awed by.

Yammy began to chuckle as he walked over to the group slowly. "So, this is what's been causing Aizen so much trouble?" He grinned from ear to ear as the girls got ready for him. "Ha! Like I should be afraid of any of you bitc-"

He didn't get far or even finish his sentence when his world was suddenly turned upside down. Yammy started to fall to the ground from the sheer force of a double axe kick to the head by both Yoruichi and Neliel. The two went back to the circle after that.

"Wow." Luppi whistled as he watched the whole thing taking place. "This boy certainly has quite the entourage." He was about to draw he zanpakuto when he noticed something off. Where did that orange haired soul reaper woman go?

Before he could react fast enough, he was pelted in the back by some kind of ash. He was forced to sonido out of the way before he would've been hurled down to the earth below like his comrades. He was surprised that he didn't sense her and that her attack was stronger than a regular lieutenant should be, but he shook his head to rid himself of his shock as he drew his blade. The woman didn't even flinch as he readied himself only to dodge by a hair, a bullet of water that flew from his right. Luppi turned and saw Halibel standing not too far away from him, her hard gaze never leaving his form. He knew that this was a little out of his league, especially with his recent position of espada number number six. Just one position behind Grimmjow. Luppi looked to both women and noticed a murderous gaze coming from the both of them and shuddered. These two were not fighting to win, they were fighting to kill.

"Enough of this!" Ikkaku yelled out as he used his shikai and charged at the group of women still protecting the young boy.

He didn't get too far as it was Neliel and Mila Rose who stopped him with a combined assault of speed and precision. Ikkaku fell to the ground below as he was covered in bruises from head to toe. Yumichika went down to see if his friend was okay while Toshiro simply looked on with his blade drawn and a stunned look in his eyes. How did these people stop them all with such ease? All to protect that little orange haired boy? Why? How? It made no sense to him at all and became more apparent when he and everyone else heard a roar from not too far away.

They all turned to see Grimmjow, bloodied and battered, but on still standing with his sword drawn still. He was breathing heavily as he looked in the direction of the person he hated most in his life. This time would be different.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" He shouted as he brought his sword to his side and placed his other hand on the blade. "GRIND, PAN-"

He didn't get far when he felt a strong hand on his arm. He turned to see the pale form of the current third espada and his superior in terms of the pecking order.

"That's enough Grimmjow." He spoke up calmly. "We have accomplished our objective for Lord Aizen. It is time to leave."

"FUCK THAT!" Grimmjow shouted as he tried to struggle out of the grip of the stronger, stoic espada. "I'LL KILL THEM! I'LL KILL THEM ALL, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"

"And miss the satisfaction of defeating your rival on your terms?" The man spoke up. "He will come to you willingly and fight you seriously once he realizes who we have."

"What?" Ichigo spoke up, confused as to what this new arrancar was talking about.

Grimmjow grinned as he relaxed his stance and sheathed his blade. "Oh, you'll see Kurosaki." A garganta opened and the two went inside, followed by a hurrying Luppi and a now conscious Yammy. Grimmjow looked to Ichigo with that same grin on his face. "Next time we fight will be our last, Kurosaki. Come at me with the will to kill as I will be doing the same thing."

The garganta closed and left a very confused chibi and his friends still there. What did he mean by accomplishing their objective? It made no sense to him and greatly confused the young boy.

The male soul reapers, not seeing a way to win this particular battle right now and having an injured man already, left the area to report this to the others as well as whatever it was that Aizen had planned for the brat. As they left, the girls relaxed a bit as their eyes changed back to normal. The girls that Ichigo knew seemed to look to one another as the males left and then turned to Rangiku of all people. The busty soul reaper shook her head, almost as if she was trying to regain her bearings and saw that all eyes were on her.

She looked to them with a slightly confused look as they were watching her, not particularly glaring per se, but analyzing if those were the right words. Rangiku then looked towards Ichigo and saw him smile and wave to her, albeit hesitantly. She smiled and waved back before leaving in a burst of shunpo. The other girls relaxed as she left and it was that moment when Ichigo spoke up.

"Wait a second." He started as they all turned to see him looking down towards the school, a sense of dread filling his eyes. "Where did she go?"

[Las Noches]

In a well lit, yet still dim room, a dark haired teenager was stirring from her forced slumber. She sat up from where she was once she was fully awake and looked around. The last thing she remembered was walking to class with Orihime and looking out a window to see a small, white haired boy fighting an older, blue haired man. She asked if anyone could see that and found that no one did, then things went blank for a little while and now she's here. Strange. Not that she was captured, but for that brief moment, she felt as if she knew that boy from somewhere. Just what was it though?

"What the hell is going on?" Tatsuki asked herself, unaware of just what her purpose was in the grand scheme of things.

It's good to update one of the old fics again. So sorry for the long wait and short chapter, but I really wanted to move things along so I can get chapters out a lot more frequently than before. Or at the very least try and get back to a more manageable level. I'll try and get more of these chapters out along with new stories in the future this year. One such story will be my third Naruto fanfic that's similar to an existing fic of mine. That story will be called "Naruto in a world of women". Not an original name, but it's basically Ichigo in a world of women just with the Naruto world now.

The next chapter will see our hero and some of his crew heading out to Hueco Mundo.

Stay awesome out there you guys. Hope you still enjoy this story, and as always,

PEACE!