"Ungh…" Ichigo begins to open his eyes, "Nnng…" He stirs his body upwards, feeling a nauseating headache, feeling as though he's about to throw up. He suppresses this, and manages to get out of a large, comfortable bed, "What happened?" He asks himself as he rubs his head.
"You were knocked out for a couple of hours. Considering what you've been through, that's quite an accomplishment," Ichigo hears a female voice calling him, and he turns his head to see Yulan sitting in a chair.
"You again…?" Ichigo says, his voice laced with confusion, "What am I doing here?" Memories start flooding in his head: his battle with Kwannon and Yor saving him return to his mind. The memory of Kwannon entering his Inner World also come back to him, "That's right!" Ichigo gasps as he gets out of bed, his legs somewhat wobbly, "She knows who I — ahhh!" He nearly falls down on the floor from the excruciating pain he feels in his head, holding it with his hand.
"Take it easy, you idiot!" Yulan exclaims as she runs over to Ichigo's side, trying to make him stand straight, "You just woke up, you have to rest for a bit before—"
"No," Ichigo groans as he softly pushes her away, "I have to go after her right now. There's no telling what she can do now that she knows who I am," He says as he staggers towards the door.
"You're not really thinking of going after her in your condition, are you?" The woman asks, putting her hands on her hips.
"What choice do I have?" Ichigo replies, his mind in a swirl, "If I don't stop her now, then whoever sent her will know who I am."
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Yulan questions, giving a skeptical stare, "Physically, you're fine. But from what we studied, your mind is damaged, it's in a state of confusion. You overdo it, and you might actually die. You need to rest."
"And if I do nothing, then they might target my family," Ichigo reasons, "I can't allow that. I'd rather get killed than let anything happen to them just because I was lying on a bed," He approaches close to the door.
"And what can you hope to do in your condition?"
"Just watch—" Just as Ichigo puts his hand on a doorknob, the door slams itself open, knocking him backwards. With his danger sense being muffled, it's difficult to hear it ringing, "Oof!" Ichigo gets knocked down to the floor, feeling a strange sense of deja vu coming to him. He sees Yor is the one who knocked him down.
"Gagh!" Ichigo holds his nose in pain, turning his head to glare at Yor, who has her arms folded, "Hey! Don't you know how to knock first?!"
"Well I had to stop you from senselessly getting yourself killed," Yor replies nonchalantly as she folds her arms.
"Say what!?" Ichigo gets up, glaring at the assassin.
"Look, let's not start a squabble," Yulan claps her hands, getting both of their attention, "But Yor is right, Ichigo. What can you do in your state when you might make the situation worse?" She questions him, "Just think about it, if you attack her how you are now, then what good are you to your family?"
"You don't get it. I'm not the only one who's damaged, and I took worse than this," Ichigo replies, which makes Yulan and Yor look at him in confusion, "She's weakened as well. Whatever happened between us in my mind must hurt her too. Yor," He looks at the Thorn Princess, "You saw how she escaped, didn't you? How her movements seemed to be sluggish?"
"I did notice that, but I didn't know what happened," Yor tells him, "When Yulan and the others checked you up, it seems your mind was fractured. We thought you'd need a week to recover from that."
"Guess I just heal fast. Now come on, let's go," Ichigo says, limping towards the door, but he notices that no-one is following him, "Well!? What are you just standing there for!? My secret is at stake here!"
"Look, I'm not disagreeing here," Yor says, "But do you mind at least filling me in here? Unlike you, I never like to attack my enemies half cocked."
"Actually… that brings me an idea," Yulan mutters as she puts her index finger and thumb under her chin, something that's heard by both. She walks over to Ichigo, "How about you work for me on this mission?"
"What are you, crazy!?" Ichigo is flabbergasted by this, "I told you I don't just—"
"That's not what I meant," Yulan tells him, "What I mean is that you can work as a freelancer, at least on this mission."
"Why would you care about that all of a sudden?" Ichigo asks, feeling suspicious by this.
"Oh, I don't," Yulan dismisses this, "The difference is that I'm interested. With your powers, you can accomplish a lot of things, and with your determination, for better or worse, might just get the job done. You don't really have to kill, in fact I'd prefer if you brought this other assassin to me, so we can grill info out of her. I'll even pay, though it won't be as much."
"Uh…" Ichigo thinks about it for a moment, and sighs, as he thinks there's no time for this, "Fine, whatever. Let's just get on with it," The orange haired youth waves his arms down before he starts running.
"I'll follow him," Yor sighs before she starts running after the young man.
Ichigo and Yor leap from building to building in the outskirts of Karakura Town, with Yor using her physical strength and speed to jump upwards, while Ichigo relies on his webbing to swing by.
"What exactly are her abilities?" Yor asks Ichigo, knowing that he's the best source of info for this, "You fought her, so you ought to know what she's capable of."
"It's weird to explain," Ichigo fires another web, his body being lifted by the webbing he's using as he swings further, "She isn't like a lot of opponents that I fought that deal physical damage, at least not much anyway."
"What do you mean doesn't do much physical damage?" Yor asks in confusion as she leaps from a building yet again.
"It's hard to explain," Ichigo mutters, "She doesn't attack you physically, it's more so she attacks your mind instead," He explains.
"How does she do it?" Yor asks, wanting to get as much info as possible.
"I don't know, but you can just feel her inside your head, and it messes you up," Ichigo answers, letting go of his webline as he twists his body in mid air before he fires another webline from his wrist, "She tried to kill me with it, but it didn't seem to work. And I don't know how, but she somehow got inside my head."
"So how did you beat her before I came in? And how do her abilities work?" Yor wants to know as she's running on the rooftops, making one leap after another.
"I couldn't even get her to say who she works for, let alone figure out how her abilities work," Ichigo says, "But I've never seen anything like it…"
"Seen what exactly?" Yor asks.
"I never saw or heard of a human who can even have abilities like that," Ichigo replies, recalling all the heroes he's heard of, and his personal experiences as a Soul Reaper with the strange abilities he's dealt with.
"What about your… other business?" Yor questions.
Ichigo recalls back when he first met Kenpachi, and how he felt as though his heart got stabbed, when in reality, it was an illusion, "It happened before, but that was completely otherworldly, and I can't say for sure that humans can do the same."
"So is that all?" Yor wants to know, "Because that really didn't tell me anything…"
"Come on!" Ichigo argues, "I did what I could! Besides, not like it could help when she can read your mind and predict your next move!"
"Well, you are new at this, so I'll cut you some slack," Yor shrugs, much to Ichigo's chagrin, "Still, this is troublesome. So what else do you know? Or is that all? Do you mind giving a description of how the battle went?"
"Well, it went like this…"
Kwannon softly sighs as she feels her aching body resting on a chair, fighting the urge to sleep as she rests. The battle with Ichigo, both physical and mental, weakened her, 'For me to hide away for a simple assassination… how embarrassing,' She thinks to herself, looking at the place she's in, 'At least I didn't have to hide in the sewers.'
The place she's resting on is a large, traditional Japanese house that is connected to a bridge that leads to a ceremonial shrine, 'And the place does look nice,' She thinks as she analyzes the place, 'Still, I'm no fool. They'll find me eventually, and I don't dare go back to The Hand empty handed. Still, maybe I can use this,' Kwannon begins to form a plan in her head, 'My task was only to kill that masked vigilante,' The woman thinks back to Ichigo when she unmasked him, 'No doubt that he's weak from all those psychic attacks I sent him. Only problem is that companion of his,' She thinks of Yor, 'I barely escaped, and I need to recover my strength before I face them both.'
"Why would she not come back to where her boss is?" Ichigo asks in confusion as he lands where Yor got at the top of a rooftop. It is now night time where they're at, having searched up and down all over Karakura Town, and having found nothing.
"Well, maybe if you didn't rush so much, you'd see the obvious," Yor bluntly tells him as she puts her hand on her hip, to which Ichigo rolls his eyes, "You said it yourself, she's injured from that psychic link you two had, so logically, she'd want to rest first before she heads back to whoever hired her," The assassin points out, "Sometimes, stuff like this takes days, weeks, so it's not unusual if she were to take that long and no-one questions her," The Thorn Princess hums as she puts her fingers under her chin, "But the problem is how to find her. So far we've had no luck."
Ichigo thinks about it, 'The only way I know how to find people is through their Spirit Energy, but this isn't spiritual related,' The boy thinks as he closes his eyes, and suddenly, he gets an idea, opening his eyes as he widens them, 'Wait a minute… it doesn't have to be spiritually related. She and I shared a link, didn't we?' He closes his eyes again as he begins to focus, 'I was able to find Chad and the parakeet through those Ribbons, and with her being able to use her weapons the way she did—' He thinks back to their fight, '—I might just be able to find her since she'd have a huge amount of Spirit Energy, and I doubt she knows how to suppress it when she's never even heard of it. If this doesn't work, I can always use the Ribbons.'
Ichigo closes his eyes, though it makes it difficult to be seen that way with his mask not responding to his eye movements. Seeing the strange position he's in, Yor quirks her eyes in confusion, "Uh… what are you doing?" She asks.
"Hang on, I'm focusing," Ichigo says, not wanting Yor to bother him, 'Even if it isn't there anymore, it was still recent. If I could just find it…' He focuses, similar to how he first used the Spirit Ribbons without realizing it. A sonar pulses out of Ichigo's body, one that extends to the entire Karakura Town, finding millions of people before ignoring those and focusing on the one he's looking for until he hears a "ping", to which he sees her widening her eyes, "There!" He exclaims, firing a web from his wrist, surprising Yor, "I found her! Come on, follow me!" He jumps off the roof and starts swinging on his web.
"Wait, hold on! Don't just do that out of nowhere!" Yor exclaims before she starts following Ichigo at her top speed, "At least warn me next time!" Her shouting falls on deaf ears, making her grunt, 'He found her?' She thinks in confusion, 'How? She didn't leave any traces behind.'
'What was that!?' Kwannon puts her hand on her head, having sensed that someone is searching for her. With the usage of her mind reading powers, she can detect who is trespassing her mind or other forms of sensory she knows of, 'He found me…' With that revelation, she gets up from her chair and starts running, 'I don't know how, but he found me! It's too soon!' As she gets past the balcony, she starts running, ready to leap high in the air before a web stops her in her tracks.
"Hi there," A cocky voice makes itself known to the female assassin, to which she turns around in annoyance as she looks at Ichigo, who is crouching, and she turns to Yor, who is standing next to him "Ready for round 2? I know I am."
"How did you find me?" Kwannon asks in annoyance, "I didn't leave a trace of my hair strand, yet you two found me."
"Well, give credit to this guy," Yor points her thumb to Ichigo, "Somehow, he found you instead."
Kwannon uses her psychic energy in the form of an glowing purple blade before she cuts Ichigo's strand of webbing, "Well, in a way, I suppose I'll take this as a good thing," Ichigo makes a flip as he lands on the same playing field, "You came to me instead of the other way around, so I'm here to finish the job," The blonde haired woman looks at Yor, "Though I don't know who you're supposed to be…"
"You can just call me his ally, whether that's for the best or worst, I don't know yet," Yor replies, preparing a fighting stance.
"I would ask why you weren't with him the last time I fought him," Kwannon makes her own stance, "But I get the feeling you're not going to answer my question."
"I was off doing my own thing," Yor replies, shrugging her shoulders.
"Really now?" Kwannon fakes her interest, "And what would that be?"
"Like I'd tell you," The Thorn Princess says. The two assassins carefully analyze one another, predicting what their next move would be, 'That's odd. She seems to have full intent of fighting the two of us,' She makes an eye cast at Ichigo, 'But why? Sure, running away might not do much good since we'll go after her, but surely she realizes that she's at a disadvantage, doesn't she?' She turns back to look at the enemy, 'Unless she's that confident with her powers…'
'She can read my mind, she's probably doing so right now,' Ichigo thinks, feeling a faint tingle creeping on his mind, 'I don't know what move to make without her knowing it… but is she able to predict what's coming if I don't think?' He sees that Kwannon doesn't make any reaction, 'Well, worth a shot.'
Ichigo leaps in the air as he launches a kick at the enemy assassin. Coming at her with incredible speeds, Kwannon blocks the kick by raising her arms above her head, and pushes him back using her own strength, 'Bad move,' Kwannon thinks as she watches Ichigo stay in mid air, 'You should have just—' Her thoughts get cut off as she feels razor sharp blades matching her own as she feels Ichigo's claw feet meet her blades, 'What?!' She becomes shocked.
Ichigo doesn't think, nor does he say anything. Though he doesn't know it, he's fighting more like a Hollow, going off of instinct. Ichigo uses his claw hand to shove them through the ground as he performs a sweep kick, knocking Kwannon off balance. The assassin regains her sharp senses, putting her hands on the floor as she twists her body to get away. Kwannon widens her eyes when she sees a dagger flying at her faster than sound, to which she manifests a dagger of her own and hurles it towards Yor's dagger. The two daggers meet and repel one another, canceling each other out.
Kwannon backflips in a long arch as she lands close to a lamp on the ground. "How did you do that just now?!" She demands to know as she glares at Ichigo.
"If you read my mind, you oughta know how," Ichigo replies with a smirk behind his mask.
"Don't get cocky with me!" Kwannon throws daggers with a wave of her hand, to which Ichigo dodges by twisting his body to get out of the way.
'Guess it worked!' Ichigo thinks before he sees Kwannon coming towards him with her blades, and the two of them engage in close quarters combat. Kwannon swings a horizontal strike towards Ichigo's head, to which he backs away. The female assassin spins her body as she makes a vertical slash, making a shallow hit as Ichigo leaps away, though not unscathed as part of his costume has been slashed, with blood trickling.
Yor charges in with her weapons and clashes with Kwannon. The two women enter in a contest of strength, with Kwannon overpowering the Thorn Princess as Yor starts buckling under her knees, "You have good eyes, and your skills are certainly a match for my own," Kwannon says as she pushes Yor lower and lower, "But you lack the superhuman strength that the kid has," She goes with a headbutt on Yor's forehead, hitting her with enough force that she gets knocked back. Kwannon rushes towards the downed assassin, preparing her real blade before thrusting the cold, steel weapon at Yor, who is pulled back with a web at the last second.
"You okay?" Ichigo asks as he tears the web with his claws.
"I'm fine," Yor says as she shrugs off the near death experience she just had, "But you were right, she's dangerous if we were to face her off alone. Which reminds me," She looks at Ichigo, "Why the hell did you charge in like that? You know how dangerous she is," She scolds him.
"I wanted to see if she could read my mind while I wasn't thinking of anything," Ichigo responds, something that catches Yor off guard, "It looks like it worked. Now that I know it did, we can beat her for sure," He says.
"What?" Yor is confused, "What do you mean by that?"
Before Ichigo could respond, his danger tingle rings in his head, and several psychic knives come flying at them, "Move!" He exclaims as he jumps towards Yor, catching her by surprise as he pushes her away, as the two narrowly avoid getting hit by the daggers.
Ichigo senses daggers coming towards him, and leaps out of the way using his acrobats. He looks at her hands, 'Gotta pay attention,' He thinks as he sees her stopping for a moment before she throws more of her invisible daggers at him. He remembers Kisuke's words, about how the more powerful the attack is being thrown, the longer it takes to charge, 'They seem to barely waste energy, and judging by how quick she's forming them, they might not take that much damage.'
Ichigo flips over to his left as he rolls over the ground, stopping for a brief second before he does a triple cartwheel to his right as he gets away from the daggers. He then jumps into the air as he throws a punch, 'What is he doing?!' Kwannon thinks in confusion, 'He's leaving himself wide open!' Using this as her opportunity, the assassin forms her daggers as she throws them towards Ichigo, aiming for his heart and shoulder.
Ichigo puts his arms together to block the blows, something that surprises Kwannon as one of the blades go through his flesh, drawing out blood from his left arm, whilst the other dagger draws out blood from his shoulder when it pierces him. Ichigo ignores the pain, charging forward as he brings out his fist and hurles it towards Kwannon, who narrowly dodges the attack as she gets over being surprised, making a backflip as Ichigo's fist punches a hole through the floor.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Kwannon yells at the young man, who forcefully takes out the small knives out of his body, "You willingly got on the line of crossfire just so you could score a half assed blow on me?!"
"You don't really know me well, do you?" Ichigo stands back up, pulling his fist out of the small hole he made.
"...That you're not very bright?" Kwannon asks in confusion.
"If there's anything I learned about in every fight I've been in, it's that I can take a lot of punishment," Ichigo replies as he curls his hand, seemingly not bothered by the blood he's staining on his costume, "So compared to this, this is nothing."
"What exactly is your plan here then?" Kwannon asks as she keeps her guard up, "Cause if you just want to ignore getting stabbed, you're not gonna be able to keep that up forever."
"Then I'll just have to finish this quickly," Ichigo replies.
Kwannon widens her eyes when she senses Yor coming up from behind, and dodges a fatal blow by ducking from her sharp weapon that was aiming for her neck, "Aiming for my vital point?" Kwannon rhetorically asks, "You should know I can read minds," She kicks Yor's dagger away from her hand, making the other woman flinch from the pain.
Kwannon twists her body as she jumps in the air, kicking the dangling weapon in mid air as it hurls at high speeds. Yor reacts in time as she instinctively spins her body around, only suffering a graze on her cheek before she jabs her weapon into Kwannon's hand, making the other woman hiss from the pain. The purple haired assassin then charges in with a headbutt, hitting Yor's head again before getting ready to stab her through her heart, only for her arm to fall short when Ichigo's web catches it, stopping Kwannon in her tracks.
"Sorry, but no killing is allowed under my watch!" Ichigo exclaims as his claw feet stick firmly through the floor.
Kwannon internally glares at Ichigo as she grits her teeth. She widens her eyes as she sees Yor making an attempt to thrust her weapon through the purple haired assassin, only for Kwannon to grab her by the wrist, preventing her from stabbing through. Due to her superior strength, it was somewhat easy to hold her back until she leapt backwards, making a backflip in an attempt to kick Ichigo, only for the young hero to get out of the way.
Kwannon manifests her energy blade and cuts the web on her arm. Ichigo makes an acrobatic flip, putting his clawed hands to use as he clashes her blades with his sharp claws. They engage in a battle of blades, as Ichigo brings his claws to cut her up by swinging them horizontally, while Kwannon blocks the blows whilst holding her blades vertically. Kwannon then kicks Ichigo's gut, making him grunt from the pain, but holds his ground as he backs away from a diagonal slash from her real blade.
'Two blades…' Ichigo thinks, as a small piece of fabric gets torn, 'Don't think I ever fought something like that before now that I think about it,' He thinks back to their previous fight, and the current one playing in his mind.
It's then that Yor comes up from behind as she leapt in the air, landing behind Kwannon as she swings her spiky weapons. This is where Ichigo and Yor start to gang up on the purple haired assassin in a two-vs-one scenario. Despite this advantage, it still isn't enough to guarantee a victory against Kwannon. Yor sends a spin kick, to which Kwannon blocks it with her foot, while Ichigo swings his hand, his claws about to scratch through her back, but Kwannon responds by spinning her real sword, clashing with Ichigo's claws.
Kwannon pushes back Yor's leg strength with her own, kicking the other woman away while she focuses on Ichigo. She starts to push him back as their weapons clash, and with her skill and experience, that isn't too much of a problem with Kwannon. It's then that the older woman vertically swings her real sword down at the vigilante's head, to which Ichigo leaps backwards out of the way, though not without a scratch on his costume, which pierced through his flesh.
"Having a hard time relying on your instincts?" Kwannon says as she points her steel blade at her enemy.
"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asks.
"I figured out why you'd take some reckless moves like what you did earlier," She says as she lowers her sword, "Your instincts. You figured you can just turn it on and off when you fight without anything for me to read on. I have to say, on paper that's not a bad idea. But you're being arrogant if you think you can do as you please. It takes many years of fighting to do something that you're trying to accomplish. Instincts aren't as simple as you're making them out to be."
"If it took a lot of people years, then I'll be able to learn it in no time in this fight," Ichigo makes a snarky response as he readies his claws.
"I'm starting to get tired of that attitude," The purple haired lass glares at the young man, "And I barely know who you are." She then looks at his wounds, that were once fresh are now being healed up, 'The wounds are gone?' She thinks in confusion, 'So he has other powers besides those of a spider…'
"That makes two of us," Ichigo replies, "But I'm not going to let you tell anybody who I am, if it's the last thing I do."
"Tell your…?" Kwannon is confused by this, "What are you talking—" She gets interrupted as a high speed weapon gets thrown at her back, to which she moves her body out of the way, turning her head in annoyance as she looks at Yor, "Ok, this is starting to get old now," She says.
Ichigo avoids the weapon before leaping at Kwannon, who turns around, swinging her energy sword to stab through Ichigo's side, only for him to clash it with his claws. As Kwannon is about to swing her real katana, she turns around and blocks Yor's weapon with her real sword. Now, Kwannon is stuck yet again by her two enemies, but she doesn't have to worry about that for long, as she pushes Yor back and tries driving her sword through Ichigo's body, only for him to back away.
Kwannon looks back and forth between Ichigo and Yor, watching their body languages and reading their minds to see who'll make the next move. That question becomes answered as she sees both of them leaping at her at once. She quickly puts her swords on her side, blocking each of the respective holder's weapons.
Using all her might, she pushes both of them away, albeit briefly as she makes a backflip to get away, making a stance yet again. Ichigo and Yor run towards her as they change sides. The black haired assassin leaps above Kwannon, spinning her body as she hurls her weapon at Kwannon's face, to which the purple haired lass brings her energy blade to block the smaller weapon. Yor uses that to her advantage as she grabs Kwannon's wrist, hurling her body upwards as she makes a flip, successfully kicking Kwannon's head, making her grunt in pain.
That kick would have reduced an ordinary human's skull to be split in half, suffering permanent trauma, but Kwannon is no ordinary human. Ichigo slides down, using this distraction to make Kwannon fall down by kicking her foot. The purple haired assassin starts to fall down, much to her surprise. It's then that Ichigo uses his claws to shove them through the ground, twirling his body as he and Yor perform a double spin kick against Kwannon, sending her flying.
Kwannon twists her body as she lands near the bridge, barely on her feet as her pursuers are already on her. Ichigo starts shooting web balls, making Kwannon back away as she starts slicing them apart with her swords. Yor makes it further as she flips behind Kwannon, intending to attack lower as she makes a thrust with her at Kwannon's legs, only for the woman to kick her back, to which Yor expected this, and rolled with the blow as she gets sent flying, rolling over the bridge.
Kwannon starts taking the lead as she charges forward, and seeing his web balls have no use against her besides making a distraction, Ichigo stops firing them. He makes a cartwheel, jumping in mid air by pushing his leg muscles, landing on the bridge.
He needs Yor's help. The last time he "took her down" is because of his spiritual powers, which completely caught her off guard. With his strength and her skill, they should be more than a match for her. What he doesn't know is that Kwannon hasn't bothered using much of her psychic powers on Ichigo, believing she'll get rejected like last time. That gives the duo an advantage, though not a large one as this wouldn't be an easy battle.
"What the hell are you doing?" Yor says as she gets up, with Ichigo landing next to her.
Ichigo is confused by what she means, "What do you mean?"
"You said that you didn't want your identity to be leaked, right?" Yor whispers as she stares down at her enemy, "So, do tell me, why are you going so easy on her?"
"I'm not going—" Ichigo gets interrupted.
"Yes you are," Yor hisses, "Do you understand where you're in right now? You're in life or death, kill or be killed. I don't understand why there's no killing intent coming from you whatsoever, especially when your own identity is at jeopardy here."
"But I don't need to—"
"You know what," Yor sighs, "I'm just going to say this, if I were in your shoes, and if the people I know were in danger because I let my feelings get in the way, then that'd be my fault," She makes a side eye at The Spider, making a glare, "Do you want that? So let me give it to you straight, stop holding back and just beat her already. We don't have to kill her."
"But what if she—"
"—Target non vital areas, it's as simple as that," Yor tells the young man, as though she could read his mind on whether Kwannon could handle his blows once he's at full strength, "After all, Yulan told us to bring her alive, though I doubt we'd be able to put her down with scary abilities like hers, that's why I'm going for the kill."
"You two done discussing your little strategy?" Kwannon asks, "Cause the longer you two just talk to each other, I get more ideas in mind."
"Depends on how you look at it," Yor says, "And who's to say I'm not coming up with ones on my own as well?" She makes a different stance with her weapons on hand, "And no matter how you look at it, whether we take time or keep charging in, this isn't going to be an easy fight, that's for sure. Besides, I prefer to be more prepared, unlike my teammate here," She refers to the young man.
"Excuse me!?" Ichigo is insulted by this.
"Ignore him," Yor says, ignoring Ichigo's outburst, "So, what's it going to be? You wanna make the first move or should we?"
"Why does that matter?" Kwannon asks in a bored tone, "Not like that's gonna make much of a difference," She cocks her head, "But, since you insist on having this fight…" She then charges forward as she runs far faster than any Olympian could. Once she gets in between them, she diagonally swings at Yor's head, to which she leaps out of the way, landing on the edge of the bridge. Kwannon then makes a spin kick against Ichigo, to which he bends backwards to avoid the blow.
Kwannon swings her psychic sword towards Yor's feet, something she avoids by flipping out of the way. Ichigo gets back up and goes to grab the purple haired assassin's arms, putting a Full Nelson position whilst Yor thrusts her weapon in an attempt to stab Kwannon's vital areas, to which Kwannon responds by headbutting Ichigo's nose from behind, dropping his guard from the pain as Kwannon backflips out of the way, making Yor widen her eyes as she pulls out her weapon at the last second and crashes against Ichigo's body, which in turn causes Kwannon to be crashed against them as well, making them all topple on one another.
Ichigo's pain tolerance allows him to recover first, and not a second too soon as his danger sense tingles on his head, dodging out of the way from a vertical slash that came at him from behind. That momentary distraction is all Kwannon needs as she picks up Yor before she could get on her feet, letting go of her psychic blade as she presses her real blade against Yor's throat.
"Yor!" Ichigo yells out in worry at the position the two of them are in, "Let her go! Now!" He demands.
"Do you just expect me to do that?" Kwannon asks, "I don't really understand why people say that when in a situation like this. Besides, what can you do anyway?"
Ichigo retracts his claws, scoffing at the situation at hand, "Now then," Kwannon continues, "I'm the one who gets to ask questions, got it?" She demands, to which Ichigo slowly nods his head, while thinking of a way to get Yor out of this. One wrong move and her life would get taken without question, "And you better not lie as well, for this woman's sake."
"Since when did assassins resort to taking people hostage?" Ichigo asks with a small tone of bitterness.
"Since you didn't leave me much of a choice," Kwannon answers, "Besides, this fight could have gone either way at the rate this was going, and I'd rather not lose. Now then, first question," She starts, "How did you find me? And why did you do it? And like I said earlier," She then enters Ichigo's thoughts, letting him know full well just how serious the situation is, "You better not lie…"
Ichigo sighs, seeing he has no choice in the matter, "I sensed you," He says with honesty, to which Kwannon seems confused by this, "Before you ask, I have… other powers that you might know about, seeing as how you already know about them when you got inside my head," The teenager tells her.
Kwannon thinks about what he's saying, and remembers back to when Ichigo had used his Soul Reaper powers, and asking her if she had Spirit Energy, "So you used your other powers to find me?" She asks.
"Sort of," Ichigo answers, "I didn't really use my spiritual body to find you, it's just something I've had for a while."
"Why didn't you stay in that?" Kwannon asks in confusion, remembering how she was easily defeated mere hours ago when battling in his Inner World, "With the level of power you had, you would have been able to beat me for sure, even without this woman's help," She presses the grip on her sword harder against Yor's throat, "So why don't you use those powers?"
'Wait…' Yor thinks, realizing what's being said here, 'Can he actually just use those spiritual powers of his whenever he wants?' Depending on his answer, Yor will feel like killing him herself if they get out of this alive.
"I can't just do it anytime I want," Ichigo gives his answer, "It doesn't work like that. This isn't like when we were in my head, I can't do anything to access those powers at the moment. It's not like I had any time to use them, I was in a rush because I had to stop you from revealing my identity. And I'm planning to stop you, no matter what."
"Revealing your identity…?" Kwannon seems confused by this, "Wait, what are you talking about?"
"Don't start fucking with me," Ichigo responds, "You saw how I look like behind my mask," He points his finger to his crimson mask, "And you were going to tell whoever hired you what my face looks like, and they'll be out to stop me, right!? It's the whole reason why we're even here!"
Kwannon blinks for a moment, being unsure of what to say. Yor senses this, and bides her time, "Hold on... I think there's a misunderstanding here. I was never going to reveal your identity," She says.
"Huh?!" Ichigo widens his eyes behind his mask. Yor also seems to be surprised by this, "Wait, what are you saying?" He asks.
"I just said it," Kwannon replies, "I was never gonna tell anyone who you are, kid. Like I said, I think there's a misunderstanding on our end. My job was to specifically kill you, and maybe bring back your corpse so the big boy could find out who you are, and after that, we go our separate ways."
"So who hired you?" Ichigo wants to know.
"I'm afraid I can't tell that," Kwannon can tell that Ichigo is annoyed by this, "Look, it's just policy. Assassins can't reveal who their employees are, it kinda ruins the whole secret bit and hiding under the shadows. Kind of like how you're hiding who you are."
"That's completely different!" Ichigo argues.
"You hide the people you love and I hide who my contacts are, I think that's a fair trade," Kwannon nonchalantly says, shrugging her shoulders, "Regardless…" She is about to continue until she thinks of an idea, "Say… how about we make a deal?"
"Huh? A deal?" Ichigo is confused by this. Knowing from personal experience, deals aren't something he's very fond of, thinking back to Ulquiorra and Yammy, "Why the hell would I do that with you?"
"Just listen to me for a minute," Kwannon says, "You'd want to after hearing this. Now listen carefully, you let me go, and in return, I return your lady friend here," She offers.
"Say what!? You expect me to just hand her over and let you go for free?!" Ichigo exclaims.
"Well, here's another option," Kwannon sighs, figuring this wouldn't have been that easy, "I kill your friend right here, and we'll continue our fight," Ichigo clenches his teeth, feeling shaken by that threat, "And before you think I'm bluffing, trust me, I killed a lot of people before even meeting you. So believe me, this is nothing new."
Yor tries to think of something to get out of this, 'Her grip is too strong,' She thinks as she feels Kwannon's arm wrapping around her neck, 'If she kills me, then that might be the push Ichigo needs to kill her,' She thinks about the scenario, 'The second I signed up on this crap, I knew I was going to die eventually, but at some point I thought that wouldn't happen with how good I've gotten over the years. Today is the reminder that I might die this very second, and all because I didn't have the physical strength to stop this bitch.'
She looks back at Ichigo, and something keeps bothering her when looking at him, 'But… do I really want that for him?' She looks down on the ground, 'He's just a kid… it's not like I'm encouraging him to kill, I'm trying to tell him to make the right decision when he's backed into a corner, if he wants to protect people as much as he claims to. But…' She replays the scenario of what happens if Ichigo is to go berserk and kill Kwannon right then and there, 'If he were to kill her, then how would he react afterwards? With how soft he is, he might grieve for me, and that might as well ruin the whole mission. Except…' She looks back at the costumed teenager, 'Who am I kidding, he's just a kid. I don't think he could bring himself to.'
The truth is that a small part of her does care for Ichigo, at least out of pity that he doesn't know how he's going to learn the world works in a hard way, that can never be avoided, regardless of what shape or form. A part of her wants him to preserve that innocence, 'Then again… that's not really my choice to make, is it?' She thinks, 'I'm sorry, Ichigo, but there's things you gotta learn the hard way,' She makes a sigh, something which Kwannon notices, "Ichigo…" The boy perks his head, "Listen to me very carefully…"
"Yor?" Ichigo is confused.
"Just listen, don't say a word," Yor tells him, "Just do what you feel is right, okay? Don't worry so much about me."
"What are you saying?" Ichigo couldn't understand.
"So what's the deal?" Kwannon asks, "It's your choice to make."
Ichigo thinks about it, and the following consequences that'd occur. He doesn't have any abilities that'd allow him to save Yor in a situation like this, and if he were to charge in, he wouldn't be fast enough to save her. But at the same time…
"Just tell me one thing," Ichigo says, "How do I know I can trust what you're saying? How do I know you won't just backstab us?"
"Believe me, she's telling the truth, Spider," Yor tells him with his codename and not his real one, "I know these types of things, assassins are good at deceiving and lying, but the truth is that she's feeling cornered," She says, making eye contact with the purple haired woman, "She wouldn't want to risk continuing this battle when it'd drain her."
"You sure talk a lot for someone who could die," Kwannon sounds somewhat annoyed.
"Yet, I don't hear you telling me I'm wrong," Yor points out.
"Well, you heard the lady," Kwannon looks back at Ichigo, "I'm giving you my word. Leave me alone, and I might leave you alone, at least for the time being."
"For the time being?" Ichigo repeats that, being unsure as to how to take that, "The hell does that mean?"
"What I mean is, there may be a possibility where I come back and I have to kill you again," Kwannon tells Ichigo.
"Then what the hell am I letting you go for then?!" The boy demands to know.
"Didn't you listen to anything I just said?" Kwannon asks, "It's just a possibility, it's not guaranteed. For all I know, the Big Man might hire someone more dangerous than me, that is if he manages to find it. Even if this is just temporary, it's better than the alternative, wouldn't you say?"
Ichigo thinks about it, and he believes he has no choice in the matter. And he hates it. He wouldn't be able to save Yor, nor would he be able to stop Kwannon, "So… what exactly are you going to tell them when you come back?" He asks.
"Simple, I'll just file in that I failed, it won't really be that much of a problem for me," Kwannon shrugs.
"So that's it?" Ichigo asks.
"I assume we have a deal then?" Kwannon says.
"Fine," Ichigo sighs in frustration, "We're letting you go. Now you let Yor go."
Kwannon does so, as she lets go of the woman who was her hostage, letting her walk towards Ichigo as she sheathes her sword, "There, now that that's done, I'll be going to…" She notices something off is in the air. A trace of pure evil.
Ichigo's danger sense tingles, confusing him. It couldn't be from Kwannon, as she just let Yor go, this is something different. They all look towards a small, pumpkin-like ball rolling over the bridge, making a small beeping sound. Ichigo widens his eyes, now recognizing the danger, "Move!" Ichigo webs Yor's back as he leaps backwards, pulling her along with him. Kwannon jumps out of the way as the pumpkin bomb detonates like a bomb, to which it explodes in the process, blowing the bridge in two as it gets incinerated.
"What the hell just—" Yor gets interrupted.
"Hahahahaha!" The trio look up to see the oddest sight ever. They see a man in what appears to be a green suit, wearing purple gloves, boots, and armor, and what appears to be a witch hat. He also carries what seems to be a brown purse strapped from his shoulder to his hip. He has crazed yellow eyes that govern with slits, eyes unlike those of a human. He hovers above them all, being carried by a technologically advanced glider, yet it practically makes no sound, "It is I!" The man bows down in a mocking fashion, "No need to praise me, but please, do feel free to."
The trio remain silent, looking at one another as if asking who or what that thing is, but from the looks upon their faces, they didn't know anything, at least for Ichigo, 'Who, or, what is that thing?' The teenager thinks.
"I... I heard of this guy," Yor whispers, something Ichigo hears, "His name is the Green Goblin, not much is known about him, besides the fact he's accounted as a supervillain from America."
"America?" The Spider is confused by this, "Then what is he doing here in Japan?"
"How should I know?" Yor replies, "There's not much known about him besides duking it out with Iron Man a few times and getting his ass kicked."
"My, my, what's with all this silence?!" Green Goblin raises his arms forward, "Does my presence shock you that much?!"
"Yeah, I'm kinda shocked at the bad fashion choice you have," Ichigo says with a smirk plastered on his face, "What are you even wearing? Don't you think Halloween is a little early for you, old man?"
"Hm?" Green Goblin looks down on Ichigo, not being amused by the shade being thrown at him, "Really? We're talking about bad fashion choices? What about you? You're not even wearing a proper suit for battle, and behave like an upstart. So really, who's the fool?"
"I'll take something that looks good instead of wearing an ogre costume," Ichigo insults him.
"Well, no matter," Green Goblin shrugs, to him, he doesn't have time to argue with a child. He makes a wicked grin as he looks down on his enemies, "I have an exciting announcement to make!" He giggles like a child, "Today is the day a new Crime Lord takes over this country and makes it his toy!" He throws his hands in the air, "As for the previous Big Man of Crime, well… he's permanently… retired, so to say," He giggles, "Welp, it's been nice knowing all of you! So long!" The glider turns around and bursts open at ultra high speeds, leaving them all in dust.
"Can… someone just explain what just happened?" Ichigo asks.
"He's going after the Kingpin," Kwannon leaps over to Ichigo and Yor, "Look, I don't have time to explain, but Kingpin isn't dead, at least not yet. I'd know because my people would tell me someone as big as Kingpin would be dead if he was."
"If that maniac kills Kingpin and takes over as the underworld ruler, there's no telling what chaos will ensue," Yor folds her arms before looking at Ichigo, "We have to hurry."
"I don't exactly get the whole story… but if that loser is gonna be worse to deal with than this Kingpin guy, then we gotta stop him," Ichigo fires a web, right before Yor leaps onto him, pressing her breasts against him, "What the — what are you doing?!"
"Is this gonna slow you down?" Yor asks.
"But you're—" Ichigo gets interrupted.
"Will it slow you down?! Yes or no?!" Yor demands to know.
"I — no!?" Ichigo is confused by what to say.
"Then stop complaining and get to work!" Yor exclaims.
"Uh… right!" Ichigo leaps off the building and starts to swing.
"I'll make sure to follow your trail! Along with his!" Kwannon announces before she starts running after the duo to stop the Green Goblin.
Well, glad I got this done. I like this chapter a lot better than the original introduction of Green Goblin in this.
Now to explain some things in this. Ichigo finding Kwannon, so the idea that came with this one is to mix the Spider-Sense in this and use it as a radar sense to find someone since he had a psychic link with Kwannon from the last chapter they fought. The funny thing is, a lot of medias don't show this, but in the old 616 Spider-Man Comics the Spider-Sense (sometimes) can find people he's looking for, especially when they're far away. And since the Spider powers in this are basically more like Hollow related, it can also work like Pesquisa, you mix in Ichigo's sensory capabilities, and viola, you get Ichigo finding Kwannon since he's constantly learning new stuff about his new powers.
Now for the Green Goblin, I wasn't too sure on what kind of design to go with him. So I just basically went for his classic one he's known for, I couldn't really think of much of an alternative besides wearing more black, but that looked weird in my head so I just went with his classic design, but more armor based at least. Not like in the new Ultimate Universe, that's a bit much, but I wasn't sure how to describe it. I might go back and edit, I'm not sure though.
Now for the appearance, I do wanna clear something up in case I'm asked if anyone notices how the Goblin appearance seemingly makes no sense when I established he fought Iron Man in America in the past, yet in earlier chapters Norman acts like he's building up to the origins of being Green Goblin. Well there's a simple answer, basically Norman in this only temporarily has his powers each time he acts as the Goblin, the lab scenes are just him working on a more permanent solution to that problem so he wouldn't be helpless like what happened in the Vulture chapter.
That's about it, until then, I'll see you all next time.