Chapter 386
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Chapter 386:
"Kurosaki-kun, did you already come here?" Orihime broke the awkward silence, genuinely looking at the orange haired kid in confusion. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Bless her heart, I just wanted to give her another pat on the head.
"I didn't." He gritted his teeth. He walked up to me, obviously understanding Yoruichi's insinuations. "Why the hell do they think I did shit!?"
"I don't know, why did you?" I countered. "It's obvious that some nefarious and dastardly villain by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo caused some havoc within Soul Society. I don't think that name is common enough for them to be mistaken."
"Fuck you, you did it."
"Really? You're going to blame me? How could it possibly –"
"Apparently he had red hair." Yoruichi chimed in. "One of his more notable features."
"..Just because they said he was charming, and handsome, and a dashing rogue doesn't mean it's me –"
"They said none of that." Yoruichi deadpanned.
"Are you sure? There was nothing mentioning any of that?" I looked at her suspiciously.
"If anything, they said that the person was ugly, and annoying, and just a menace in general."
"Lies and slander!"
"....Uh huh." Yoruichi poked my cheek. "You seemed awfully concerned about what happened to Strawberry over there."
"Don't call me that, you stupid cat!"
"Yeah, Yoruichi, be nice. He's under a lot of pressure. I can't imagine the kind of stress he has after invaded Soul Society a second time."
That made her snicker despite the situation.
"I did not you asshole!"
"That's not what the people are saying...."
"Raaah!" He started haphazardly swinging his big sword around with annoyance. "Get over here you asshole!" He shouted while I casually used a burst of my bastardized Shunpo to hide behind Izzy.
"Stop flailing around." Yoruichi jumped off my shoulder, smacking Ichigo's head to the ground. "We have more important things to worry about."
"What the hell is more important than this asshole shouting my name after running around here already!?" He jabbed his finger in my direction, after jumping back up to his feat.
Honestly, that's a fairly decent question. But, regardless.....
"Can't prove shit."
"Right here! Let's go!" He made a beckoning motion.
"Don't fight.." Orihime frowned.
And the wind was taken out of his sails very quickly.
"Alright, alright." I held my hands up. "Let's just agree that we've all made some mistakes and move on to more important things."
"You're the one who caused this whole problem!" Ichigo's eye twitched.
"From what I understand, they're blaming someone named Kurosaki Ichigo. Last I checked, that isn't my name." I smiled. "Honestly –"
I felt a hand grab at my ear and pull. "Wilhelm, what did you do?" Izzy glared at me.
"Pfft, whipped." Ichigo grinned.
"....Virgin – owww." I whined, as Izzy pulled my ear a bit harder.
"Alright, stop messing around." Yoruichi looked like she was laughing a moment ago, but she regained her seriousness. "Did you seriously run around calling yourself with his name previously?"
"....similar events may or may not have occurred."
"That makes things significantly worse." Yoruichi grumbled.
"In my defense, I didn't think a 15 year old would get it into his head that it was a good idea to invade the afterlife." I pointed out.
"Didn't you do it already? What makes you different!?" Ichigo scowled.
"I can take responsibility for my actions. I came and left without problems and I didn't involve my high school friends in some hair brained scheme when they have next to no actual experience fighting." I flicked his forehead.
Am I being a little bit of a hypocrite? Sure. However, they're just kids with next to no real experience with this sort of thing. I've been in many life-and-death battles at this point, and I know how to handle myself. I could handle the repercussions that came my way. I just didn't expect that they were wanting to do the exact same thing only a little time later. I also could at will leave this world line behind without a trace, so the consequences facing me weren't that great.
"Is that why you're here?" Chad, who had been silent along with Uryū at the side, had walked forward and put a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "You do not seem to care about Rukia. And you should barely know any of us."
Well, he has a good head on his shoulders. "That's right."
Chad nodded. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.
He wasn't the type to say much.
"What exactly did you do? The rumors aren't really.....reliable." Yoruichi asked as everyone else seemed to lean in to listen.
"Went to a few places, met a few people."
"That doesn't seem like it'd get the kind of response I heard about – "
"May have beaten up a Captain while I was at it."
".....what?"
"I mistook him for a clown at first. He was really weird."
"Are you talking about Mayuri?"
"Yeah, that was his name." I nodded.
Yoruichi stared at me for a moment in complete silence. "Right, I'll process that later. Didn't know you could handle a Captain like that, and I don't understand it, but that's not important right now. Not to mention Kisuke is going to get a kick out of it."
"Also shared a drink with Shunsui. He's a nice guy." I added.
"....that's actually kind of believable. Anything else I should know?"
I'm glad that they have someone watching their backs. I feel like I might be too preoccupied to always cover them.
Those pieces of paper – Talismans, felt weird, so I think they're legit.
And the scary lady that I can't feel any Reiatsu from but still makes my hairs stand up.
Were they dating or something? They act like a couple, but also not.
Whatever, I didn't really care.
Scary housewife wasn't the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
"Anyways, I chose this place on purpose. I had an idea, I wanted to go pay a visit to Shunsui and talk to him about the whole execution thing, see if we can't maybe get a Captain on our side." I perked up and listened as he talked. "Even if this whole 'rescue' thing miraculously works, what exactly is the end goal after....stealing her back?"
"True, they wouldn't just stop if we grabbed that little twerp and brought her back to the Human World." Yoruichi nodded. "And Shunsui is very close friends with the Captain of Rukia's Division, so there's a good chance he might help."
"We're friendly, I'll go see if I can chat him up about helping. In the meantime, you guys work towards your goal, I'll catch back up. And Izzy will be in charge while I'm gone."
Everyone looked at the scary housewife and even that snooty cat didn't say anything even jokingly about her. I think even the cat was scared of her, which was weird cause the cat seemed not scared of anything until this point.
"Do what you want." I said.
It made sense. It'd be better if they didn't do anything after. But for now, the important thing was just rescuing Rukia in the first place.
"Alrighty, since Strawberry gave me permission. Try to stay out of trouble this time." He smiled and it really made me want to punch him, but he slashed that weird sword of his through the air and stepped through another of his weird portals.
"If we're going to be moving around, should we find some clothing to blend in?" Chad asked.
He made a good point. "Doesn't sound like a bad idea if we can grab some from somewhere."
"You can strip the first Shinigami we come across, because chances are they're on alert after our entrance to Soul Society." Yoruichi snorted. "We're lucky this is a remote corner, but expect to see patrols every which way."
"Do you know the fastest way to get to Rukia? So we don't have to keep stopping or getting lost." I asked.
"I need to get my bearings, so we'll need to step further out. Either way, we're probably going to run into people. May as well go hard and fast."
"Works for me." I cracked my knuckles. "Everyone else ready?"
Chad nodded and Uryū looked like he still had that stick up his ass, but he looked prepared. I'd try my best to make sure Orihime didn't have to fight.
Scary Housewife didn't say anything, but a small look from her made me feel a little relieved for some reason.
"Alright, follow my directions." The Cat jumped onto my shoulder and I didn't argue. For some reason, he knew this place well.
"Just tell me where to go." I didn't care as long as I went the right way.
"Take a right up here." I began moving and they followed quickly.
As soon as we turned the corner, there were a handful of Shinigami standing around. They saw us immediately and they could probably tell we weren't supposed to be here.
"Ryoka!" One of them shouted and they all stood up straighter and drew their swords, running at us.
"Try not to kill anyone unless you have to." Yoruichi voiced.
I nodded at Chad and we ran at them, that weird arm of his came out and he immediately cracked one of them across the face with a hail maker and I kicked the next one in the stomach. These guys were barely better than some of the thugs we've had to fight in the past. Sure they had swords, but we were also much stronger than when we did this in the past.
Their blades never touched us and we knocked down these six or seven easily.
Uryū didn't do anything, and I'd normally give him shit and he'd probably say something about dealing with weaklings, but I noticed him standing protectively next to Orihime.
"Stop spacing out, to the right again, then there's a long path. Don't stand still." Yoruichi slapped the side of my head. "The alarm hasn't been raised, but it's only a matter of time until they realize that we're inside."
I grumbled, but I listened to his orders.
Running along the endless walls, we didn't move much more before running into another group, a little bit bigger but I also felt that one of them was a lot stronger than the others.
"One of them is a Seated Officer, be careful." Yoruichi warned.
"Yeah, yeah." I noticed him too. I grabbed Zangetsu from my back and picked him out of the lot. A few arrows flew past my head and shot at the hands holding swords. They shouted and dropped their weapons while Chad ran up and knocked them out.
I ignored the small fries and swung my blade at the strongest one.
He unsheathed his sword quickly, and blocked my strike. From that one exchange, I could pretty much gauge his overall strength and I just flexed my Reiatsu a little and swung Zangetsu again with more force. He tried to block again, but he was slammed to his knees and I finished him off with a kick to the stomach, sending him tumbling.
He was still conscious and I was curious about something. "Hey." I grabbed his collar, bring him up to meet my eyes. "The name's Kurosaki Ichigo, does that mean anything to you?"
"Oh god, please don't hit me with a brick!"
"....what?"
"While I second that question, I have another. What's the Fifth Division doing over here, your barracks are on the other side of the Seireitei?" Yoruichi jumped down to my hand and patted where I was grabbing at his kimono. I pulled it a little more to see a 'Five' stitched to the inside.
"That's because I was in the area."
I felt something tingle on the back of my neck as the words reached me. It wasn't just me either, Yoruichi seemed to freeze at hearing the voice.
I turned to look at the source and it was a gentle looking guy with somewhat messy brown hair and an otherwise scholarly look. Honestly, without the white Haori I wouldn't have ever thought of him as important
I Barely even blinked and Yoruichi was standing between us as the guy, looking ready for a fight. "Run, now." He commanded. "Run and don't look back."
"What're you talking about?" While the guy gave me a weird feeling he seemed.....kinda harmless. He didn't really look like he was gonna fight.
"What a strange coincidence. I was bringing some of my division members to see the Eighth for a joint exercise and I've run into an old acquaintance. It's been a while Shihōin Yoruichi. And I see you've made some new friends." His eyes ran over all of us, but strangely, they looked at the scary Housewife the most and he looked....surprised? Looked kinda confused too and he stiffened a little as she looked back. Whatever he was thinking, it took him a second to turn his attention back to us.
"Aizen." Yoruichi spat out.
"How about we have a chat, for old times sake?" He smiled and it suddenly felt wrong.
"I have nothing to say to you." He growled, standing ready for some kind of attack.
"What a shame. However, I have some words I want to share with you." He smiled and it came off kind of genuine despite the situation. He grabbed his sword at his hip and I tensed up, even unconsciously grabbing at Zangetsu because I felt my instinct telling me how dangerous this guy was. He only barely pulled it a few inches from his sheath. "Shatter – Kyōka Suigetsu."
[***]
A/N
If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Chapter 386:
"Kurosaki-kun, did you already come here?" Orihime broke the awkward silence, genuinely looking at the orange haired kid in confusion. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Bless her heart, I just wanted to give her another pat on the head.
"I didn't." He gritted his teeth. He walked up to me, obviously understanding Yoruichi's insinuations. "Why the hell do they think I did shit!?"
"I don't know, why did you?" I countered. "It's obvious that some nefarious and dastardly villain by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo caused some havoc within Soul Society. I don't think that name is common enough for them to be mistaken."
"Fuck you, you did it."
"Really? You're going to blame me? How could it possibly –"
"Apparently he had red hair." Yoruichi chimed in. "One of his more notable features."
"..Just because they said he was charming, and handsome, and a dashing rogue doesn't mean it's me –"
"They said none of that." Yoruichi deadpanned.
"Are you sure? There was nothing mentioning any of that?" I looked at her suspiciously.
"If anything, they said that the person was ugly, and annoying, and just a menace in general."
"Lies and slander!"
"....Uh huh." Yoruichi poked my cheek. "You seemed awfully concerned about what happened to Strawberry over there."
"Don't call me that, you stupid cat!"
"Yeah, Yoruichi, be nice. He's under a lot of pressure. I can't imagine the kind of stress he has after invaded Soul Society a second time."
That made her snicker despite the situation.
"I did not you asshole!"
"That's not what the people are saying...."
"Raaah!" He started haphazardly swinging his big sword around with annoyance. "Get over here you asshole!" He shouted while I casually used a burst of my bastardized Shunpo to hide behind Izzy.
"Stop flailing around." Yoruichi jumped off my shoulder, smacking Ichigo's head to the ground. "We have more important things to worry about."
"What the hell is more important than this asshole shouting my name after running around here already!?" He jabbed his finger in my direction, after jumping back up to his feat.
Honestly, that's a fairly decent question. But, regardless.....
"Can't prove shit."
"Right here! Let's go!" He made a beckoning motion.
"Don't fight.." Orihime frowned.
And the wind was taken out of his sails very quickly.
"Alright, alright." I held my hands up. "Let's just agree that we've all made some mistakes and move on to more important things."
"You're the one who caused this whole problem!" Ichigo's eye twitched.
"From what I understand, they're blaming someone named Kurosaki Ichigo. Last I checked, that isn't my name." I smiled. "Honestly –"
I felt a hand grab at my ear and pull. "Wilhelm, what did you do?" Izzy glared at me.
"Pfft, whipped." Ichigo grinned.
"....Virgin – owww." I whined, as Izzy pulled my ear a bit harder.
"Alright, stop messing around." Yoruichi looked like she was laughing a moment ago, but she regained her seriousness. "Did you seriously run around calling yourself with his name previously?"
"....similar events may or may not have occurred."
"That makes things significantly worse." Yoruichi grumbled.
"In my defense, I didn't think a 15 year old would get it into his head that it was a good idea to invade the afterlife." I pointed out.
"Didn't you do it already? What makes you different!?" Ichigo scowled.
"I can take responsibility for my actions. I came and left without problems and I didn't involve my high school friends in some hair brained scheme when they have next to no actual experience fighting." I flicked his forehead.
Am I being a little bit of a hypocrite? Sure. However, they're just kids with next to no real experience with this sort of thing. I've been in many life-and-death battles at this point, and I know how to handle myself. I could handle the repercussions that came my way. I just didn't expect that they were wanting to do the exact same thing only a little time later. I also could at will leave this world line behind without a trace, so the consequences facing me weren't that great.
"Is that why you're here?" Chad, who had been silent along with Uryū at the side, had walked forward and put a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "You do not seem to care about Rukia. And you should barely know any of us."
Well, he has a good head on his shoulders. "That's right."
Chad nodded. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.
He wasn't the type to say much.
"What exactly did you do? The rumors aren't really.....reliable." Yoruichi asked as everyone else seemed to lean in to listen.
"Went to a few places, met a few people."
"That doesn't seem like it'd get the kind of response I heard about – "
"May have beaten up a Captain while I was at it."
".....what?"
"I mistook him for a clown at first. He was really weird."
"Are you talking about Mayuri?"
"Yeah, that was his name." I nodded.
Yoruichi stared at me for a moment in complete silence. "Right, I'll process that later. Didn't know you could handle a Captain like that, and I don't understand it, but that's not important right now. Not to mention Kisuke is going to get a kick out of it."
"Also shared a drink with Shunsui. He's a nice guy." I added.
"....that's actually kind of believable. Anything else I should know?"
I'm glad that they have someone watching their backs. I feel like I might be too preoccupied to always cover them.
Those pieces of paper – Talismans, felt weird, so I think they're legit.
And the scary lady that I can't feel any Reiatsu from but still makes my hairs stand up.
Were they dating or something? They act like a couple, but also not.
Whatever, I didn't really care.
Scary housewife wasn't the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
"Anyways, I chose this place on purpose. I had an idea, I wanted to go pay a visit to Shunsui and talk to him about the whole execution thing, see if we can't maybe get a Captain on our side." I perked up and listened as he talked. "Even if this whole 'rescue' thing miraculously works, what exactly is the end goal after....stealing her back?"
"True, they wouldn't just stop if we grabbed that little twerp and brought her back to the Human World." Yoruichi nodded. "And Shunsui is very close friends with the Captain of Rukia's Division, so there's a good chance he might help."
"We're friendly, I'll go see if I can chat him up about helping. In the meantime, you guys work towards your goal, I'll catch back up. And Izzy will be in charge while I'm gone."
Everyone looked at the scary housewife and even that snooty cat didn't say anything even jokingly about her. I think even the cat was scared of her, which was weird cause the cat seemed not scared of anything until this point.
"Do what you want." I said.
It made sense. It'd be better if they didn't do anything after. But for now, the important thing was just rescuing Rukia in the first place.
"Alrighty, since Strawberry gave me permission. Try to stay out of trouble this time." He smiled and it really made me want to punch him, but he slashed that weird sword of his through the air and stepped through another of his weird portals.
"If we're going to be moving around, should we find some clothing to blend in?" Chad asked.
He made a good point. "Doesn't sound like a bad idea if we can grab some from somewhere."
"You can strip the first Shinigami we come across, because chances are they're on alert after our entrance to Soul Society." Yoruichi snorted. "We're lucky this is a remote corner, but expect to see patrols every which way."
"Do you know the fastest way to get to Rukia? So we don't have to keep stopping or getting lost." I asked.
"I need to get my bearings, so we'll need to step further out. Either way, we're probably going to run into people. May as well go hard and fast."
"Works for me." I cracked my knuckles. "Everyone else ready?"
Chad nodded and Uryū looked like he still had that stick up his ass, but he looked prepared. I'd try my best to make sure Orihime didn't have to fight.
Scary Housewife didn't say anything, but a small look from her made me feel a little relieved for some reason.
"Alright, follow my directions." The Cat jumped onto my shoulder and I didn't argue. For some reason, he knew this place well.
"Just tell me where to go." I didn't care as long as I went the right way.
"Take a right up here." I began moving and they followed quickly.
As soon as we turned the corner, there were a handful of Shinigami standing around. They saw us immediately and they could probably tell we weren't supposed to be here.
"Ryoka!" One of them shouted and they all stood up straighter and drew their swords, running at us.
"Try not to kill anyone unless you have to." Yoruichi voiced.
I nodded at Chad and we ran at them, that weird arm of his came out and he immediately cracked one of them across the face with a hail maker and I kicked the next one in the stomach. These guys were barely better than some of the thugs we've had to fight in the past. Sure they had swords, but we were also much stronger than when we did this in the past.
Their blades never touched us and we knocked down these six or seven easily.
Uryū didn't do anything, and I'd normally give him shit and he'd probably say something about dealing with weaklings, but I noticed him standing protectively next to Orihime.
"Stop spacing out, to the right again, then there's a long path. Don't stand still." Yoruichi slapped the side of my head. "The alarm hasn't been raised, but it's only a matter of time until they realize that we're inside."
I grumbled, but I listened to his orders.
Running along the endless walls, we didn't move much more before running into another group, a little bit bigger but I also felt that one of them was a lot stronger than the others.
"One of them is a Seated Officer, be careful." Yoruichi warned.
"Yeah, yeah." I noticed him too. I grabbed Zangetsu from my back and picked him out of the lot. A few arrows flew past my head and shot at the hands holding swords. They shouted and dropped their weapons while Chad ran up and knocked them out.
I ignored the small fries and swung my blade at the strongest one.
He unsheathed his sword quickly, and blocked my strike. From that one exchange, I could pretty much gauge his overall strength and I just flexed my Reiatsu a little and swung Zangetsu again with more force. He tried to block again, but he was slammed to his knees and I finished him off with a kick to the stomach, sending him tumbling.
He was still conscious and I was curious about something. "Hey." I grabbed his collar, bring him up to meet my eyes. "The name's Kurosaki Ichigo, does that mean anything to you?"
"Oh god, please don't hit me with a brick!"
"....what?"
"While I second that question, I have another. What's the Fifth Division doing over here, your barracks are on the other side of the Seireitei?" Yoruichi jumped down to my hand and patted where I was grabbing at his kimono. I pulled it a little more to see a 'Five' stitched to the inside.
"That's because I was in the area."
I felt something tingle on the back of my neck as the words reached me. It wasn't just me either, Yoruichi seemed to freeze at hearing the voice.
I turned to look at the source and it was a gentle looking guy with somewhat messy brown hair and an otherwise scholarly look. Honestly, without the white Haori I wouldn't have ever thought of him as important
I Barely even blinked and Yoruichi was standing between us as the guy, looking ready for a fight. "Run, now." He commanded. "Run and don't look back."
"What're you talking about?" While the guy gave me a weird feeling he seemed.....kinda harmless. He didn't really look like he was gonna fight.
"What a strange coincidence. I was bringing some of my division members to see the Eighth for a joint exercise and I've run into an old acquaintance. It's been a while Shihōin Yoruichi. And I see you've made some new friends." His eyes ran over all of us, but strangely, they looked at the scary Housewife the most and he looked....surprised? Looked kinda confused too and he stiffened a little as she looked back. Whatever he was thinking, it took him a second to turn his attention back to us.
"Aizen." Yoruichi spat out.
"How about we have a chat, for old times sake?" He smiled and it suddenly felt wrong.
"I have nothing to say to you." He growled, standing ready for some kind of attack.
"What a shame. However, I have some words I want to share with you." He smiled and it came off kind of genuine despite the situation. He grabbed his sword at his hip and I tensed up, even unconsciously grabbing at Zangetsu because I felt my instinct telling me how dangerous this guy was. He only barely pulled it a few inches from his sheath. "Shatter – Kyōka Suigetsu."
[***]
A/N
If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
Chapter 386:"Kurosaki-kun, did you already come here?" Orihime broke the awkward silence, genuinely looking at the orange haired kid in confusion. "Why didn't you say anything?" Bless her heart, I just wanted to give her another pat on the head. "I didn't." He gritted his teeth. He walked up to me, obviously understanding Yoruichi's insinuations. "Why the hell do they think I did shit!?" "I don't know, why did you?" I countered. "It's obvious that some nefarious and dastardly villain by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo caused some havoc within Soul Society. I don't think that name is common enough for them to be mistaken." "Fuck you, you did it." "Really? You're going to blame me? How could it possibly " "Apparently he had red hair." Yoruichi chimed in. "One of his more notable features." "..Just because they said he was charming, and handsome, and a dashing rogue doesn't mean it's me " "They said none of that." Yoruichi deadpanned. "Are you sure? There was nothing mentioning any of that?" I looked at her suspiciously. "If anything, they said that the person was ugly, and annoying, and just a menace in general." "Lies and slander!" "....Uh huh." Yoruichi poked my cheek. "You seemed awfully concerned about what happened to Strawberry over there." "Don't call me that, you stupid cat!" "Yeah, Yoruichi, be nice. He's under a lot of pressure. I can't imagine the kind of stress he has after invaded Soul Society a second time." That made her snicker despite the situation. "I did not you asshole!" "That's not what the people are saying...." "Raaah!" He started haphazardly swinging his big sword around with annoyance. "Get over here you asshole!" He shouted while I casually used a burst of my bastardized Shunpo to hide behind Izzy. "Stop flailing around." Yoruichi jumped off my shoulder, smacking Ichigo's head to the ground. "We have more important things to worry about." "What the hell is more important than this asshole shouting my name after running around here already!?" He jabbed his finger in my direction, after jumping back up to his feat. Honestly, that's a fairly decent question. But, regardless..... "Can't prove shit." "Right here! Let's go!" He made a beckoning motion. "Don't fight.." Orihime frowned. And the wind was taken out of his sails very quickly. "Alright, alright." I held my hands up. "Let's just agree that we've all made some mistakes and move on to more important things." "You're the one who caused this whole problem!" Ichigo's eye twitched. "From what I understand, they're blaming someone named Kurosaki Ichigo. Last I checked, that isn't my name." I smiled. "Honestly " I felt a hand grab at my ear and pull. "Wilhelm, what did you do?" Izzy glared at me. "Pfft, whipped." Ichigo grinned. "....Virgin owww." I whined, as Izzy pulled my ear a bit harder. "Alright, stop messing around." Yoruichi looked like she was laughing a moment ago, but she regained her seriousness. "Did you seriously run around calling yourself with his name previously?" "....similar events may or may not have occurred." "That makes things significantly worse." Yoruichi grumbled. "In my defense, I didn't think a 15 year old would get it into his head that it was a good idea to invade the afterlife." I pointed out. "Didn't you do it already? What makes you different!?" Ichigo scowled. "I can take responsibility for my actions. I came and left without problems and I didn't involve my high school friends in some hair brained scheme when they have next to no actual experience fighting." I flicked his forehead. Am I being a little bit of a hypocrite? Sure. However, they're just kids with next to no real experience with this sort of thing. I've been in many life-and-death battles at this point, and I know how to handle myself. I could handle the repercussions that came my way. I just didn't expect that they were wanting to do the exact same thing only a little time later. I also could at will leave this world line behind without a trace, so the consequences facing me weren't that great. "Is that why you're here?" Chad, who had been silent along with Uryu at the side, had walked forward and put a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "You do not seem to care about Rukia. And you should barely know any of us." Well, he has a good head on his shoulders. "That's right." Chad nodded. This chapter was first shared on the Nvl1n platform.He wasn't the type to say much. "What exactly did you do? The rumors aren't really.....reliable." Yoruichi asked as everyone else seemed to lean in to listen. "Went to a few places, met a few people." "That doesn't seem like it'd get the kind of response I heard about " "May have beaten up a Captain while I was at it." ".....what?" "I mistook him for a clown at first. He was really weird." "Are you talking about Mayuri?" "Yeah, that was his name." I nodded. Yoruichi stared at me for a moment in complete silence. "Right, I'll process that later. Didn't know you could handle a Captain like that, and I don't understand it, but that's not important right now. Not to mention Kisuke is going to get a kick out of it." "Also shared a drink with Shunsui. He's a nice guy." I added. "....that's actually kind of believable. Anything else I should know?" I'm glad that they have someone watching their backs. I feel like I might be too preoccupied to always cover them. Those pieces of paper Talismans, felt weird, so I think they're legit. And the scary lady that I can't feel any Reiatsu from but still makes my hairs stand up. Were they dating or something? They act like a couple, but also not. Whatever, I didn't really care. Scary housewife wasn't the weirdest thing I've ever seen. "Anyways, I chose this place on purpose. I had an idea, I wanted to go pay a visit to Shunsui and talk to him about the whole execution thing, see if we can't maybe get a Captain on our side." I perked up and listened as he talked. "Even if this whole 'rescue' thing miraculously works, what exactly is the end goal after....stealing her back?" "True, they wouldn't just stop if we grabbed that little twerp and brought her back to the Human World." Yoruichi nodded. "And Shunsui is very close friends with the Captain of Rukia's Division, so there's a good chance he might help." "We're friendly, I'll go see if I can chat him up about helping. In the meantime, you guys work towards your goal, I'll catch back up. And Izzy will be in charge while I'm gone." Everyone looked at the scary housewife and even that snooty cat didn't say anything even jokingly about her. I think even the cat was scared of her, which was weird cause the cat seemed not scared of anything until this point. "Do what you want." I said. It made sense. It'd be better if they didn't do anything after. But for now, the important thing was just rescuing Rukia in the first place. "Alrighty, since Strawberry gave me permission. Try to stay out of trouble this time." He smiled and it really made me want to punch him, but he slashed that weird sword of his through the air and stepped through another of his weird portals. "If we're going to be moving around, should we find some clothing to blend in?" Chad asked. He made a good point. "Doesn't sound like a bad idea if we can grab some from somewhere." "You can strip the first Shinigami we come across, because chances are they're on alert after our entrance to Soul Society." Yoruichi snorted. "We're lucky this is a remote corner, but expect to see patrols every which way." "Do you know the fastest way to get to Rukia? So we don't have to keep stopping or getting lost." I asked. "I need to get my bearings, so we'll need to step further out. Either way, we're probably going to run into people. May as well go hard and fast." "Works for me." I cracked my knuckles. "Everyone else ready?" Chad nodded and Uryu looked like he still had that stick up his ass, but he looked prepared. I'd try my best to make sure Orihime didn't have to fight. Scary Housewife didn't say anything, but a small look from her made me feel a little relieved for some reason. "Alright, follow my directions." The Cat jumped onto my shoulder and I didn't argue. For some reason, he knew this place well. "Just tell me where to go." I didn't care as long as I went the right way. "Take a right up here." I began moving and they followed quickly. As soon as we turned the corner, there were a handful of Shinigami standing around. They saw us immediately and they could probably tell we weren't supposed to be here. "Ryoka!" One of them shouted and they all stood up straighter and drew their swords, running at us. "Try not to kill anyone unless you have to." Yoruichi voiced. I nodded at Chad and we ran at them, that weird arm of his came out and he immediately cracked one of them across the face with a hail maker and I kicked the next one in the stomach. These guys were barely better than some of the thugs we've had to fight in the past. Sure they had swords, but we were also much stronger than when we did this in the past. Their blades never touched us and we knocked down these six or seven easily. Uryu didn't do anything, and I'd normally give him shit and he'd probably say something about dealing with weaklings, but I noticed him standing protectively next to Orihime. "Stop spacing out, to the right again, then there's a long path. Don't stand still." Yoruichi slapped the side of my head. "The alarm hasn't been raised, but it's only a matter of time until they realize that we're inside." I grumbled, but I listened to his orders. Running along the endless walls, we didn't move much more before running into another group, a little bit bigger but I also felt that one of them was a lot stronger than the others. "One of them is a Seated Officer, be careful." Yoruichi warned. "Yeah, yeah." I noticed him too. I grabbed Zangetsu from my back and picked him out of the lot. A few arrows flew past my head and shot at the hands holding swords. They shouted and dropped their weapons while Chad ran up and knocked them out. I ignored the small fries and swung my blade at the strongest one. He unsheathed his sword quickly, and blocked my strike. From that one exchange, I could pretty much gauge his overall strength and I just flexed my Reiatsu a little and swung Zangetsu again with more force. He tried to block again, but he was slammed to his knees and I finished him off with a kick to the stomach, sending him tumbling. He was still conscious and I was curious about something. "Hey." I grabbed his collar, bring him up to meet my eyes. "The name's Kurosaki Ichigo, does that mean anything to you?" "Oh god, please don't hit me with a brick!" "....what?" "While I second that question, I have another. What's the Fifth Division doing over here, your barracks are on the other side of the Seireitei?" Yoruichi jumped down to my hand and patted where I was grabbing at his kimono. I pulled it a little more to see a 'Five' stitched to the inside. "That's because I was in the area." I felt something tingle on the back of my neck as the words reached me. It wasn't just me either, Yoruichi seemed to freeze at hearing the voice. I turned to look at the source and it was a gentle looking guy with somewhat messy brown hair and an otherwise scholarly look. Honestly, without the white Haori I wouldn't have ever thought of him as important I Barely even blinked and Yoruichi was standing between us as the guy, looking ready for a fight. "Run, now." He commanded. "Run and don't look back." "What're you talking about?" While the guy gave me a weird feeling he seemed.....kinda harmless. He didn't really look like he was gonna fight. "What a strange coincidence. I was bringing some of my division members to see the Eighth for a joint exercise and I've run into an old acquaintance. It's been a while Shihoin Yoruichi. And I see you've made some new friends." His eyes ran over all of us, but strangely, they looked at the scary Housewife the most and he looked....surprised? Looked kinda confused too and he stiffened a little as she looked back. Whatever he was thinking, it took him a second to turn his attention back to us. "Aizen." Yoruichi spat out. "How about we have a chat, for old times sake?" He smiled and it suddenly felt wrong. "I have nothing to say to you." He growled, standing ready for some kind of attack. "What a shame. However, I have some words I want to share with you." He smiled and it came off kind of genuine despite the situation. He grabbed his sword at his hip and I tensed up, even unconsciously grabbing at Zangetsu because I felt my instinct telling me how dangerous this guy was. He only barely pulled it a few inches from his sheath. "Shatter Kyoka Suigetsu." *** A/N If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
