Chapter 65: Diversion Tactics

For all his determination and bluster, Ichigo didn't last very long against his opponent.

Kirara had felt his Reiatsu clashing against that of a powerful opponent, whose own power sent a chill down her spine. She could also feel the power of the other Shinigami rising in the distance, fighting off the others who had come from Hueco Mundo, but her attention remained on Ichigo.

As she expected, he called on his Mask, and for those eleven seconds, he clearly dominated against his opponent. But then those eleven seconds ended, and his Mask shattered. Instantly the tide had turned, and it had taken all of Kirara's willpower not to give into the protective urge to save him.

Instead, Rukia had arrived, freezing the Arrancar in place with her Zanpakuto.

"That was some incredible power," Ichigo told her, his breathing deep and uneven as he fought the pain of the Zanpakuto that had been impaled through his hand. It held him in place, preventing him from moving without either cutting his hand off, or doing severe damage.

Ichigo stared at Rukia as she ran over to help. He knew that she'd gotten her powers back after the fiasco in the Soul Society; she'd more than demonstrated that already. But to freeze Grimmjow in a thick sheet of ice was incredible. It seemed that she too hadn't been slacking for the last month. "When did you-" he cried out before he could ask his question, as Rukia tried to pull the blade free as carefully as she could.

"Don't speak. It's difficult to get you free as it is. You'll just make things worse," she warned as she saw how deeply it had been embedded. You seem to be using a pretty ridiculous power yourself," she added as she put both hands on the blade and stood to put more strength into it. "You're barely in one piece," she scolded.

"Shut up," Ichigo growled, looking away as he berated himself. Even after a month of training with his Mask, and he wasn't strong enough.

"Ichigo…" Rukia paused, seeing the frustration on his face. Before she could say anything, she felt the power to her right, just before the ice began to crack. The woman didn't even get the chance to move, before Grimmjow burst from the ice and grabbed her by the head.

"Don't underestimate me, Shinigami," Grimmjow smirked as the ice crumbled around him. "Did you think such a thin sheet of ice would kill me? Think again!" he shouted as she tried to pull out of his grasp, but his large hand held onto the side of her head with ease. Power began to glow bright red in his palm, and Rukia inhaled sharply as she felt the strength of the Cero starting to swell.

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, trying desperately to force his body to move. Grimmjow laughed loudly, enjoying the fear that filled the air.

That laughter ended abruptly as Kirara appeared beside them. Grimmjow's cerulean eyes went to her, unable to move in time to defend against Kirara's speed. She kicked up hard, and Grimmjow's arm snapped upwards with such force that his Cero vanished before it could do anything.

As the Arrancar grunted in pain at the force that almost broke his arm, Kirara spun with the momentum gathered from her first attack, and delivered another, more powerful kick to his ribs that carried the man down the street to crash into a wall.

Rukia sank to her knees, breathing heavily as tears stung her eyes. The side of her face was burned from the heat of the Cero pressed against her face, but she looked up in shock at Kirara, who lowered her leg and straightened up as she stared in the direction that she had thrown Grimmjow.

"What the hell?!" the blue-haired Arrancar snarled as he burst out of the wreckage of the wall. He coughed as his chest protested the movements - his ribs were bruised, if not cracked, but he ignored the pain and stood straight as he locked onto Kirara. His eyes narrowed as he studied her; she didn't look to be a Shinigami, but there was something about her that was off, and it made him wary.

Kirara didn't move to attack Grimmjow again as she watched him rising slowly. She'd done more damage than she'd expected to, but he already seemed to be in bad shape before he'd even shown up to fight Ichigo, missing an arm with his jacket in pieces. "Who the hell are you?" he growled. "One of his friends? Are you here to fight me too?" he snarled, and leapt from the rubble to land not too far from them.

"Kirara…" Ichigo breathed, staring at the woman who had been helping to train him for the last month. There was no trace of the woman he had seen during that time; no cheerful, playful teasing. No careful guidance with strange patience.

This was a fighter in front of him.

"Nope," Kirara shrugged, taking all three by surprise. "It's not my job to fight you," her words were cool as she held Grimmjow's gaze easily. "It's his," she then looked away, up to one of the houses nearby as Shinji landed on the roof with his Zanpakuto over his shoulder.

"Man…I really don't like interfering in Shinigami fights, but I got no choice," he complained, looking more irritated than anything. "It's hard to look the other way with you guys causing such a ruckus," Ichigo stared up, wide-eyed at them stepping in.

"Who are you? You a friend of theirs?" Grimmjow growled.

"Why would I be?" Shinji retorted, keeping that bored look on his face.

"Then who?!" Grimmjow seemed to be lacking in patience, Kirara noted. True to her word, she stayed still, arms folded across her chest as she watched from beside Rukia.

"Doesn't matter who I am," Shinji replied, giving as vague responses as Kirara would. It almost made her smirk.

"That's true. Whoever you are…" as Grimmjow spoke, he leapt between the three near him to yank his Zanpakuto free of Ichigo's hand. The young man cried out in pain as his blood splashed out. "I'm going to kill you anyway!" Grimmjow roared, launching himself at Shinji.

"This guy is a hothead. Glad I didn't have to fight him," Kirara mused aloud, watching as Shinji easily dodged the Arrancar's powerful attacks.

"Kirara…what are you doing here?" Ichigo croaked, clutching his hand as the blood continued to pour out. She sighed, and crouched beside him.

"You ever think that Love and Kensei were tryingto help by making you stay behind?" she asked softly, pulling his hand away so she could study the wound. To his credit, Ichigo had stayed still enough that the Zanpakuto hadn't done a huge amount of damage.

"You're the Ryoka who my brother and Captain Ukitake knew. You vanished after Aizen…" Rukia trailed off, not missing the anger that flashed in Kirara's face at the mention of the man. Her gaze darted to Ichigo, who was watching Shinji dodging Grimmjow's attacks.

"It doesn't matter who I am," she replied quietly as she looked away from Ichigo's injuries, and up to the fight above. "We'll get you to Hachi soon," Kirara told him, knowing that of the two of them, Hachi was the far superior healer. Ichigo didn't respond.

Rukia looked from Ichigo to Kirara once again. She'd been the one to pull Orihime away for a chat, so it was clear that she was one of the people that Ichigo had been training with for the last month. Knowing she wasn't going to get any answers from the two, Rukia looked up to watch too.

"Hold back a little when you fight," Shinji complained as Grimmjow smashed up another rooftop. "If you keep destroying things when I dodge, I'll get distracted and won't be able to dodge," he sighed, and dodged once again as Grimmjow launched after him again.

"You call that dodging, do you?" the Arrancar sneered, following him. Shinji rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath before raising a hand over his face. Ichigo and Rukia inhaled sharply, feeling the dark energy that filled the air as he summoned his Mask, pulling it on over his face in a flash. Instantly his blade clashed with Grimmjow's, taking advantage of his surprise to force him backwards.

Rukia's heart raced as she felt the Reiatsu that had a Hollow's energy mixed with it. It was similar to what she had felt with Ichigo on her way to help him, and it was more controlled and powerful than when Ichigo had lost control of his Inner-Hollow in the past. She looked at Kirara, whose gaze had hardened as she watched, and bit her tongue. It wasn't her place to ask.

In the air above, Grimmjow found himself completely on the defensive. He could barely block the strikes in time, and each one forced him back as his missing arm cut his power in half. His speed was worthless, as every time he tried to push forwards, he found his opponent already there and swinging his own Zanpakuto.

Grimmjow grunted as he pushed back against Shinji's blade, but felt himself losing more and more ground. "That Mask…you really are one of his friends!" he accused furiously.

"Don't make me repeat myself. It doesn't matter who I am!" Shinji put more power into his swing, and shoved Grimmjow back several feet. When the man recovered, the spike in Reiatsu made all of them start. Red light similar to what Grimmjow had created in his hand began forming against Shinji's closed fist.

"That's…a Cero…" Rukia breathed.

"Sorry, Arrancar. You seem strong, so…no holding back," Shinji warned quietly. Grimmjow stared, unable to believe what he was seeing, and the beam of red power shot straight at him. It was so bright that it briefly dimmed the sky around it, before crashing into Grimmjow and creating a massive explosion hidden by smoke.

Kirara turned right before Grimmjow crashed to the ground, causing a tremor that could be felt for some distance. To his credit, he was still conscious, coughing up blood as he pushed himself onto his hand and knees. He cursed over and over again, his entire body shaking.

When Shinji landed lightly nearby, Grimmjow turned a furious glare on him, his hold on his Zanpakuto tightening. "You hit it with your own Cero to reduce the damage? Not bad," there was almost approval in his voice, and Grimmjow's glare turned hateful.

In a beat, he was on his feet and charging, snarling loudly as his own power suddenly started to rise to frightening levels, making the hairs on the back of Kirara's neck stand on end.

"Grind!" the blade of his Zanpakuto began to glow, but before anything could happen, another hand rested on his own. Grimmjow stopped dead, his power fading back to normal levels as another Arrancar stood beside him, having seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Just as quickly, Kirara moved to stand beside Shinji, her own power rising to the surface and begging to be used on the new threat. "Ulquiorra," Grimmjow snarled, his voice one of angry resentment.

"Our mission is complete," the newcomer had a completely opposing personality, with cold green eyes lacking any kind of emotion. His voice was equally as flat. "We're leaving," as Ulquiorra spoke, a crack appeared in the sky above. Yellow light burst out from it, slamming into the two to encompass them in Negacion. Kirara swallowed back the bile at the sight, remembering the last time she had seen it.

"Now that made absolutely no sense," she declared once the two disappeared, letting the yellow light and crack vanish.

"A one-armed Arrancar who barely puts the effort into fighting, and his clearly stronger companion saying that their 'mission is complete'," Shinji summed up as he let his Mask vanish. He turned to Kirara. "No shit it doesn't make sense," he snorted.

"I'm curious about what power he was about to use. You really pissed him off," Kirara mused, but she didn't spend much time thinking about him. "Whatever the case, I know a diversion tactic when I see it," she said quietly. Shinji hummed his agreement.

"A diversion from what?" he asked quietly.

"Ichigo!" they heard Rukia's alarmed cry, and the heavy thud of Ichigo's body hitting the ground. Turning, they found him lying face down, his Zanpakuto clattering out of his grasp as Rukia knelt beside him.

"Finally gave in to that beating he took," Shinji considered.

"I am not carrying him back," Kirara warned.

Screams of pain could be heard throughout Kisuke Urahara's training area, but they seemed mostly due to dramatics than actual pain.

"That hurts! Are you listening to me?!" Ikkaku was screaming as he fought off the powerful, larger figure of Tessai, who was determined to take care of his wounds. "That's enough, back off!" he roared and shoved him away.

"Forget it! I can't do that!" Tessai refused, but he seemed to be enjoying bullying the 3rd Seat into submission.

"Don't give me that crap! The bandages are already too tight!" Ikkaku snarled, refusing to let him continue tending to the injuries he received when fighting against the 6th Espada, Luppi. In his distraction, the tiny girl Ururu managed to sneak up behind him and catch him in a headlock.

"Good work, Ururu. Don't let him go," Tessai requested as Ikkaku struggled to breathe. "Make him pass out, and we can finish him up," he told her.

"Stop it!" they looked around to see Yumichika struggling in the armlock that Haruki had him in. "Let go of Ikkaku! Leave him alone, you bully!" the 5th Seat shouted, refusing to stop fighting the slightly larger healer.

"Please, Yumichika! You need to stay still so I can finish looking after your own injuries!" Haruki pleaded, wincing as he felt the man straining so much that he risked dislocating his shoulder.

"Haruki is right!" Tessai nodded. "You need to calm down and stay still. If you keep struggling, you'll make your injuries worse," he scolded. Yumichika ignored him, and fought harder to break out of Haruki's grasp.

"I didn't want to do this…" the 4th Seat of Squad Four gave a heavy sigh, and with a fast movement, he tripped Yumichika and pinned him face down in the dirt. "Sorry, Yumichika. You gave me no choice, I need to tend to your wounds before they get worse," Haruki told him. He could feel Yumichika still struggling, but he had him pinned in a trained hold.

"Impressive use of Hakuda, but try not to injure him further," Tessai requested as he went back to tending Ikkaku. He had almost completely passed out.

"I'm used to it with Squad 11 members by now," Haruki replied cheerfully, but could hear Yumichika's growled curses and threats to make him pay once he let up. He finished tying the last of the bandages around his arm, thinking back to the fight.

'There were five of us, including a Captain, and we still struggled against that guy,' he thought to himself as he moved to pour more healing Kaido into the slash that had cut deep. Luppi had easily bested them, and it had taken a sneak attack from Captain Hitsugaya's Bankai to restrain him. Yet when the Negacion had broken through the ice, Luppi was a little banged up, but fine.

Haruki bit back a sigh of frustration, hiding how much he blamed himself behind a cheerful disposition as he focused on making sure Ikakku, Yumichika and Matsumoto were taken care of. His side stung, a painful reminder that he hadn't escaped unscathed, but he ignored it and prioritised the others first.

Haruki had been injured plenty of times since becoming a Shinigami, and even before then, but he never got used to the burning fire of pain. Blood flowed steadily from the gash in his side where Luppi had caught him, and the cocky Espada barely even spared him a second glance as he taunted each of them.

It was rare that Haruki was on the front lines. Despite his training and skills in fighting, he was still a talented healer, and was prioritised there first. But these Arrancar had ambushed them, and he had to help. So as Luppi took his eyes off Haruki, the healer fought the pain and put his hand to his side.

The power of Kaido was a cooling effect, but he'd very rarely had to use it on himself. Very few could keep their focus on keeping their Kaido steady in that amount of pain, and he struggled to try and heal himself enough to help turn the tide of battle against Luppi.

"Watch it!" Ikkaku's shout came just in time, and Haruki used Shunpo to dodge the tendril smashing down towards him. It smashed through the trees with ease, and Haruki's heart raced at the idea of what it could have done to him.

"Taking your attention off the fight to look after yourself?" Luppi sneered as he looked back at the healer. "Though, you don't look like much of a fighter. Are you their medic?" he taunted. Haruki flushed, narrowing his eyes as he didn't reply. "How tragic! I'll have to take you out first, then!"

Haruki was jolted out of his thoughts of the fight with the Espada when Yumichika gave a particularly violent jerk. He'd felt the second that Haruki's grip had slackened in his distraction, and seized his chance. The actions made Haruki's side spark with pain.

"No!" Haruki cried out as he tumbled to the ground. "Yumichika, please, you need to rest!" he pleaded as the man shot to his feet and turned to him with a look of utter outrage on his face.

"How about you look after yourself before you start telling us to rest!" he snapped, and Haruki's hazel eyes went wide. "If you can't figure out your priorities, you'll be nothing but a liability on the battlefield," Yumichika sniffed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need a mirror. If you've marked my perfect face, you will pay before the day is done," he warned, stalking off.

"Wa…" Haruki started, but trailed off as Yumichika didn't turn back. "Shit…" he muttered, wincing as he got to his feet and the pain in his side ached once again. Yumichika was right. He should have looked after his own injuries first. Now he was woozy and tired.

"Allow me," Tessai forced him to sit down, stripping off his damaged kosode. Haruki allowed him, looking dejected. "Yumichika is right. Both here, and out there. Healing yourself during battle would have been a smart decision, had you been well-practised in the method. Few truly are capable of remaining focused on a fight while healing themselves," he said as he tended to the gash that was still oozing blood through the bandage that Haruki had slapped on.

"It was a stupid decision, I know," Haruki sighed. "I just…couldn't be useless after being brought here. After everything that happened in the Soul Society," he muttered, guilt welling up. He hoped that Captain Unohana wouldn't catch wind of what he'd done. He'd probably try to quit out of shame.

"I do not believe that Captain Hitsugaya would have chosen you to come here, if he did not believe you were of use," Tessai's words made Haruki's eyes widen. "None of you are useless," he said firmly, and Haruki winced as the man tied the bandages. Ikkaku was right - they were far too tight. "Do not belittle yourself for failing to reach levels you believe those you admire are capable of. More often than not, they have their own shortcomings that they are trying to overcome," with that, Tessai stood and patted Haruki's head.

"Thanks, Tessai," Haruki said, trying not to feel too patronised by the actions. Tessai gave him a thumbs up, and walked away. "My priorities, huh?" Haruki murmured, and looked at the sword by his side.

'It would appear that some advice does manage to get through that thick skull of yours,' the soft yet deep voice resonated deep in the back of Haruki's mind. He gave the smallest of smiles in response to Shizukesa's voice.

"I guess so," he agreed, and winced again. "I better make sure Ikkaku's still breathing…these bandages are tight," Haruki complained.

What a year it's been already (I know it's only February...doesn't make it any less true).

Anyways, hope you enjoyed!

Please review!