A Wandering Soul [Multicross OC] [Currently in: RWBY]

[Milpy]

@Azura

What can I say... I don't like it. Not the chapter itself, but the badly-made cross-over with Yu-yu-hakusho. An Yuusuke using swords? Feels more like you named someone that has nothing to do with the anime as his name.

I think Hiei is kind of on-point, except he can summon the fires at will waay too soon. It would be fine if it was only the eye, as he could kinda do that from the beginning.

 

[Azura]

@Azura

What can I say... I don't like it. Not the chapter itself, but the badly-made cross-over with Yu-yu-hakusho. An Yuusuke using swords? Feels more like you named someone that has nothing to do with the anime as his name.

I think Hiei is kind of on-point, except he can summon the fires at will waay too soon. It would be fine if it was only the eye, as he could kinda do that from the beginning.

Click to shrink...

Thats fair. Honestly they are more throwaway characters at this point just building up Alex as a threat to the SS. Honestly not sure if im going to keep them around since the Bleach powerscale is basically if you arent at least a lieutenant you are cannon fodder. With rare exceptions of course. Natsumi is planned to stick around though. Im planning on using her to show the soul reaper's side of events

 

[Milpy]

Thats fair. Honestly they are more throwaway characters at this point just building up Alex as a threat to the SS. Honestly not sure if im going to keep them around since the Bleach powerscale is basically if you arent at least a lieutenant you are cannon fodder. With rare exceptions of course. Natsumi is planned to stick around though. Im planning on using her to show the soul reaper's side of events

Click to shrink...

Huh... alright. Would've been happier is this xover never happened, though

 

[Azura]

Spirit 2.5

'Those idiots couldn't follow a simple plan.' Natsumi scowled to herself as she moved on the next verse of the Kido chant.

'All they had to do was work together and delay the Ryoka for a few minutes. Instead they decide to challenge her one on one and almost let her get away.'

Yuusuke was now unconscious after taking a sudden attack and Hiei was trying to fry the Ryoka...and getting played like a fool in the process.

It might have fooled even her if she was closer to the fight, but this far out Natsumi could easily tell the Ryoka was holding back a lot in terms of strength.

Really obvious when she would use movements on par with a lieutenant at least and back off right when Hiei started to build up momentum.

'This looks like one of the introductory training sessions for the new initiates.' Natsumi thought.

She remembered what it was like when she first joined. A no holds barred sparring match with an undercover elite member. Where the newbie was told they were going up against one of the weaker members of the squad to show how far they had to go even if they passed at the top of the academy.

It would start off simple, the newbie would be able to get some grazing hits in or be able to push their opponent completely to the defensive. They would get overconfident, sure that pushing just that little bit more would let them beat an experienced Shinigami.

All while the opponent was just slowly using more strength to stay above the initiate's best effort until they couldn't keep up and lost.

It was easy to see the parallels from a distance. The Ryoka was emitting such a low amount of Reiatsu it was almost like she was an academy student at best. Presumably that's what gave the two idiots the confidence to disregard the plan and engage her alone.

But Natsumi had seen it.

In that attempt to flee the area the Ryoka had overpowered Yuusuke in an ease she had only seen in officers. Hiei apparently missed the change in behavior since he was acting like he was in control of the fight.

Natsumi watched as the Ryoka dodged around the courtyard. Streams of fire were barely dodged or deflected by the weird longsword the Ryoka had summoned.

At the very least Hiei was doing a good job keeping the Ryoka at a distance. The amount of fire he was sending out with his shikai was buying Natsumi enough time to finish her chant. So he was at least helpful even if he wasn't going to be taking the intruder down.

Natsumi started the final stanza, just in time to hear the Ryoka run out of patience.

"Well this game of keep-away has been fun." Her tone indicating she felt otherwise. "But since you haven't pulled out anything new I'm guessing you're either waiting for reinforcements or just delaying me. So I'm going to end this if you don't mind."

'Oh please be fast enough' Natsumi thought desperately as she watched the Ryoka form yet another weapon out of thin air. 'How many could she possibly have?!' This one was a large black bow. The Ryoka formed and fired several glowing arrows that exploded all around Hiei. Natsumi prayed that the Ryoka was still going easy on him and hadn't just killed a member of her team as she finally finished the incantation.

She slammed her hands to the ground and shouted, "Kekkai no 31: Kuriadōmu Kabe!"

A rippling dome bloomed from Natsumi's hands before expanding to cover the courtyard and some of the streets beyond. Natsumi let out a sigh of relief. While Kuriadōmu Kabe wasn't the most powerful of barriers, it should be enough to slow the Ryoka down until one of the reinforcement squads made it to help. Of course that meant Natsumi herself would need to delay the Ryoka from breaking out before then.

'And I have to do it by myself.' She thought ruefully, as she looked around the courtyard before jumping down to confront the Ryoka.

Yuusuke was still unconscious and now that the dust had cleared from around Hiei it was clear he was also down for the count. Natsumi was relieved to see him breathing, which hopefully meant he was just unconscious as well and not bleeding out or something.

Standing in front of the Ryoka, Natsumi was struck by how tall she was. She was around the same height as Lieutenant Isane, but unlike her the Ryoka was clearly a fighter. Despite the relaxed posture, her sapphire blue eyes were hard and focused.

"And another one pops out of the woodwork. I assume the barrier is your doing?"

Natsumi nodded, "Yes it is, I am Squad 2 Third seat Hanakage Natsumi. I must say that I am impressed by your skill in concealing your Reiatsu. If I hadn't been observing from a distance I never would have noticed you were masking your strength."

The Ryoka frowned, presumably upset she was discovered.

"I wouldn't say I was hiding anything." she insisted.

"Still…" Natsumi continued, "I cannot allow you to continue. Surrender now, or I will be forced to end you."

The Ryoka's lip twitched in an amusement. Natsumi certainly couldn't blame her, she had easily shown she was stronger than any normal Third Seat officer. Listening to one demand her surrender certainly would be amusing.

Luckily Natsumi had some secrets she could use.

"I ask you again. Surrender now or we will fight."

This time the Ryoka didn't stop her smile from showing, "You're much more stiff than the other two. Why don't you just relax and wait for your backup? I'll just be on my way and you don't need to strain yourself."

"Very well, Encircle, Kusarihebi!"

Natsumi's Zanpakuto started glowing brightly. The blade shrank down and curved forward until it formed a sickle-like blade. From the end of the hilt extended a long black chain that ended in a triangular weight.

While she was presenting a confident front, in her mind Natsumi was still cursing her moronic teammates. If the had followed the plan all three of them would be stalling the Ryoka and potentially defeating her, not trying to take her down one at a time.

'After this is over, I'm going to have them running drills until they can do them in their sleep.'

With a sharp flick, Natsumi sent the chain whipping towards her opponent, only for her to duck under the attack and fire several glowing arrows in return.

After seeing what that attack had done to Hiei, Natsumi had no desire to take that attack head on, so she manipulated the chain to divert a few of the arrows so they would collide in midair.

Temporarily hidden by the resulting smoke, Natsumi circled off to one side. Just in time as a few more arrows streaked past where she had just been standing. With a soft curse Natsumi realised she needed to force the Ryoka on the defensive or she wouldn't have a chance. Her ability to quickly attack at long range was too much to deal with for a single opponent.

She grabbed Kusarihebi by the chain and threw the sickle part of her weapon at the Ryoka's legs.If she was lucky she would be able to reduce her enemy's mobility, cripple it if she was luckier, but Natsumi would settle for forcing the Ryoka to be on the move.

Seeing her opponent jump to avoid the blade going for her feet, Natsumi threw the other end of her weapon in pursuit, using both ends of the chain to attack at the same time. A few arrows tried to end her continuous attack but she was able to deflect those as well.

Natsumi pressed forward, trying to cut off any escape routes. Her chain whistled through the air, but was either dodged to reflected by the bow before she could get a hit in.

"You're actually really annoying you know that?" the blonde said deflecting the bladed end with her bow again.

Natsumi smiled, "Well if you want to give up certainly won't stop you."

'Just a little longer.' she thought.

"Nah, I have a certain person's plans I want to ruin first. You might not believe it but you have a few traitors running around."

Natsumi felt her eyes widen. 'Traitors, here?'

"So what, you and your friends decide to invade us to deal with traitors to the Seireitei out of the kindness of your hearts? Do you take me for a fool?"

"Oh no, we don't really care about the Seireitei. In fact if your little problem didn't affect us, then I definitely wouldn't be here. But since I'm going to get involved anyway, I'm going to do my best to upset their plans."

'It couldn't be simple could it?' Natsumi complained in her head.

If there was a credible threat to the Seireitei, then she was duty bound to learn more and report the issue. But that information was coming from an active threat to the Seireitei already. Natsumi couldn't really trust anything the Ryoka was saying but maybe…

"You realize I won't take your word for any of this, right?" The Ryoka nodded easily. "Is there any proof you have to verify this?"

"Hmm, well I don't exactly carry things like that around you know? But I can tell you they are responsible for the old Squad 2 and 12 Captains being driven off, along with the Kido Commander. Not sure if you would know about that or not but it should be of interest to your Captain." the Ryoka eyed Natsumi thoughtfully. "Some other things they've done that are less relevant to your squad... they are responsible for the death of your Squad 13 lieutenant, the incident involving a bunch of your officers being turned into Hollows, and various incidents where Soul Reapers have been ambushed by Hollows. A certain training incident springs to mind."

Natsumi just stared at the insane person in front of her. There was no way most of those incidents were related. Hell, several of them had detailed records corroborated across multiple Squads. Natsumi felt pretty safe dismissing everything as a lie at this point.

Her disbelief must have shown on her face since the Ryoka continued, "I wouldn't tell you that unless I had a way to prove I know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah? And how are you going to do that?" Natsumi asked cautiously.

"Well I'll give you a prediction, in the next few days one Souske Aizen is going to die. Apparently, and here is the fun part, from being stabbed with his own sword. And no one will notice a fight. Naturally, it will be done by your traitors."

Natsumi's blood ran cold. She was saying a Captain was going to die? So either these traitors were real, or the Ryoka were aiming to assassinate one of the most powerful people in the Seireitei and one of them was happily announcing their intentions. Either way she felt she needed to hear everything.

"Okay, you have my attention. Who are these traitors?"

The source of Natsumi's growing headache smirked, "Well you have three of them, and you aren't going to like it. They are…" The Ryoka looked down one of the streets leading to the courtyard. "Well that's just bad timing." She turned to face Natsumi. "Don't suppose you will let me run off after I tell you?"

Natsumi shook her head. She sensed her reinforcements were closing in fast, with two Lieutenant level Shinigami as well.

Suddenly the Ryoka swung her bow to point at one of the streets and unleashed an arrow that positively hummed with power. The attack streaked towards the barrier surrounding the two of them before shattering the thing like it was made of glass instead of a fully incanted kido barrier.

"Sorry, things to do, people to see. Tell your captain about this if you want but don't spread it around if you don't want to die."

The Ryoka took aim down the street the reinforcement team was coming from. Natsumi paled as another glowing arrow formed. If that hit the reinforcement team…

Natsumi hadn't been just standing around while she questioned the Ryoka. She had been subtly using her Reiryoku to maneuver her chains behind her opponent. Unfortunately she was only able to get the chains around her left arm and the bow, but that was enough to prevent the Ryoka from aiming at the others.

"Its over Ryoka! Give up now and we will investigate your claims." Natsumi shouted. Without her ranged option Natsumi was certain this was almost over.

Up until the Ryoka let the bow disperse into light and pulled out some boxy handheld device and pointed it at her.

"Just a heads up? The bow probably would have hurt less."

Natsumi could only watch as golden light erupted from the end of the device and slammed into her, an instant later she collided with the wall surrounding the courtyard and it was a struggle to even remain conscious. Natsumi dimly recognised two more flashes of light before she was able to pull herself to her knees.

Through the haze of in her mind she recognized the Ryoka had run off and the entrance to the street the reinforcement team was coming from was smoking rubble. She wanted to get to her feet, but the effort was too much and she pitched forward, collapsing on the ground.

Her last thought was 'The captain isn't going to like this.' and then everything went black.

-o-​

I stared at the pile of rubble where the gate used to be, then at the pistol device in my hand, then back at the rubble.

Huh.

These things didn't do that much damage to Urahara's training room. Do the Seireitei just use subpar materials? The shots should have collapsed the walls some slowing down the new arrivals, not explode the thing.

Putting the spent devices back in their holsters, I looked back at the Soul Reaper I had been fighting.

Looks like I surprised her having more than one way to attack at a distance, cause the max power I could squeeze out of the one-off models would only inconvenience a fighter at her level if she was on guard.

I smirked, guess I lucked out she was distracted by the reinforcements. Speaking of, I should get moving.

Spinning on my heel, I ran down one of the connecting streets. While I bought time with my stunt, I wasn't confident I could take on two Lieutenants at the same time and get away before even more people showed up.

Dodging down some random side alleys, I thought back on the fight. Despite them tracking me down I wasn't super impressed with the Squad 2 team. I mean yeah, they were skilled and everything, but the boys were only about as strong as Ichigo was before he joined up with Urahara for training. And they called themselves elite!

The girl was kinda scary though.

She had the raw power that the other two lacked on top of being more skilled. If she wasn't consciously moving our fight away from her downed teammates she would have pressed me much harder than she did. And even then she delayed my long enough for her reinforcements to get close!

I hope she isn't too upset by the suckerpunch, if we all live through this I kinda want a rematch.


The scenery continued to stay pretty much the same the entire time I ran. Looking up I saw that the plateau that contained the central buildings was pretty close by. At the rate I was going I would be able to reach the cliffside in a few more minutes.

Not bad if I wanted to continue on my own. But I was reaching the end of my ability to navigate the Seireitei on my own.

I had yet to find a comprehensive map of the place- good security by the soul reapers annoyingly enough -and this close to the tower where Rukia was being held I was losing my easiest navigation point. Simply going towards the tower wasn't really an option when you are already at the tower after all.

Continuing by myself wasn't something I was very interested in. It would leave me fighting several captain level opponents with no backup, no way to contact the others, and nowhere to go. I might be able to manage if I was on my own, but doing any of that with Rukia in tow was likely impossible.
My best bet would be to hide out nearby and wait for Ichigo to show up. I know that his group was the first to get to this area, and if I remember correctly he had a member of squad four who was sympathetic to rescuing a capital offense criminal.

With that in mind I broke the lock on one of the buildings and found myself in some kind of meeting room. Basically just a table surrounded by chairs, but it would do for now.

I sat down in one of the chairs, put my feet up, and prepared for a bit of a wait.

 

[SCO]

I'm wondering why Alex couldn't use the cannon/canon 'method'? Is it just not wanting to be sick?

Seems like a superfluous reason to split the party, even if you want to avoid canon retreads.

 

[Azura]

Spirit 2.6

While I waited, I decided to continue working on a design for an AI to integrate into my next upgrade to the proto-device. Nothing super advanced, well super advanced compared to what I might eventually be able to create, but it would be enough to get something that would let me give a command and have it carried out rather than the current setup which was just a fancy interface.

Still it was coming along nicely. Building the thing might be tricky since I will need to add some new hardware to support the new AI, but the design seemed to come together just fine. Maybe I should look into making this version more modular, so when I figure out how to improve something I don't need to rebuild the thing everytime.

Something to think about at any rate.

Sighing, I closed the notebook I was using and slipped it back into a pocket before heading out the door. It had been a few hours since my run-in with the Squad 2 team and I figured it was pretty close to when Ichigo would be passing through the area if nothing butterflied from me being here.

I started making my way back to the stairway from earlier. I planned to cycle past each of the entrances to the plaza until I spotted Ichigo there, but it turns out it was unneeded.

The first corner I turned put me face to face with the orange haired Soul Reaper. Unfortunately for me, both of us were sprinting so I had just enough time to see Ichigo's eyes widen at my sudden appearance before the two of us collided and crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

"Damn it Ichigo! Watch where you're going!" I snapped, throwing him off of me before I got to my feet.

He also jumped to his feet, one hand going over his shoulder to grab the handle of his sword. "Why don't you watch where you're going, you bi-" He shouted back, before recognition set in. "Alexandria? What are you doing here?"

"You know this person Ichigo?" One of the two following Ichigo asked. He was tall and powerfully built. He stood out mostly due to being the first person I'd seen recently not in a Soul Reaper uniform with a green bandanna and vest, white undershirt, and puffy black pants. On his forearms and shins was some kind of abrasive looking guards. The occasional white symbol of the Shiba clan on the outfit would have tipped me off if I didn't already know his name, but Ganju Shiba looked entirely the same from what I remember in the show.

He also looked like a mess. He had large areas covered in blood from sword wounds, and while they looked treated it was clear he wasn't far from exhaustion.

I glanced at the other member of Ichigo's little party.

Standard Soul Reaper uniform, save for a white satchel with a green strap running from shoulder to hip. Limp looking bluish-black hair split down the middle framing his face. Nothing really special looking about him really, except for the fact that he looked extremely weak in terms of both his personality and physically. So much so I partially thought the reason he didn't have a zanpakuto with him was that his wrist would break trying to hold one. And even if that wasn't the case I really doubted he would be able to swing it at anyone seriously.

I frowned slightly. I was expecting him to be here but for the life of me, I just couldn't remember his name.

"Yeah Ichigo, why don't you introduce me to your friends." I said.

"Uh, yeah sure. That's Alexandria Cross. She's a friend of Yoruichi who came to help us save Rukia." He turned back to me, "I thought Yoruichi said you couldn't get past the walls and that's why you stayed behind?"

"No Ichigo, I couldn't use the same method to get by the walls. I came in a different way. And before you ask, no it wouldn't have worked for the rest of you."

Ichigo pointedly closed his mouth.

I turned to face the other two again, "Going by the symbol I assume you are with the Shiba clan? And what's the deal with the Soul Reaper here?"

"Yeah, the name's Ganju Shiba. And um... he uh… he decided to help us out?" Ganju said before trailing off. He glanced over to Ichigo who just shrugged.

Guess they really just kinda dragged Hanataro along and didn't question his motives after his offer to help then?

"Um, excuse me, Miss Cross?"

Hanataro pulled my attention to him, "Yeah? And just call me Alex."

"Oh, okay. I know it might seem strange that a Shinigami would want to rescue Rukia. And your right, even Ichigo asked why I wanted to help...

When she was imprisoned in the 6th squad holding cell, I was assigned there on janitorial duty. Over the past month she told me so many stories about Ichigo and his friends and all about the world of the living. She was so kind to me even when she didn't have to be and even though she is from such a noble clan...

And I don't want her to die, so please, please let me help you!" He exclaimed before bowing deeply.

"Jeez, we already said you could help. No need to get so worked up." muttered Ganju.

Christ, the kid was so earnest it almost felt like I was kicking a puppy if I said no. Good thing I was fine with him tagging along and said as much.

The entire group started walking towards the stairs while we talked about what we had been through today. Hearing about Ganju's fight from his perspective was amusing. Especially since I remembered snippets from the show, and calling it a 'thrilling battle of skill and determination' between him and the 'sissy Soul Reaper' where he managed to triumph when he used a secret technique to knock his opponent out with a powerful explosion seemed like a bit of a stretch.

"So you ran around trying to lose your opponent in the surroundings and blew him up with one of the fireworks the Shiba clan specializes in?" I smirked.

Instantly the bravado vanished from Ganju's face and his shoulders fell.

"Yeah, maybe. Is it wrong to want to sound a little cooler after a battle? I should just be glad you didn't meet my big sis, she does the same thing whenever I tell a story near her too." Ganju admitted.

"She sounds fun. I'll need to drop by after this to meet her then."

"Hey guys, I think I see the way up!" called Ichigo from the front of the group. Looking ahead I could see the cliff was just ahead of us and we would be in the open soon. Ichigo increased the pace until we were at a brisk walk.

Then at a jog.

And again until we were running to keep up with him.

We ran past the walled corridors that had been a constant for most of my time in the Seireitei and made it halfway across the empty area in front of us before we all slowed to a halt.

Towering buildings stood at the top of the cliff. Each had another slightly larger one peeking out from behind. Many of them were either grey boxy buildings or white square towers with orange tiled roofs. But the one that stood out the most was the single circular white tower with a conical roof. It easily dwarfed the surrounding buildings by thirty feet or so. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't reserved for people waiting to die.

It was the closest I had been to the center buildings and the sight of them made me feel insignificantly small. It was the same reason I hated walking around in big cities. When you look up and see buildings towering over you, you just feel smaller somehow.

"We're so close already" Ganju said next to me. "It sure looks enormous… and we'll probably have to fight our way up there from here on out…" He had a smile on his face, but it was obvious he was nervous about our chances.

"If you think it's too much, you can hang out here." I teased.

"Hmph."

Despite the surliness, the teasing seemed to relax him a bit.

I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back for that, only for Ichigo to suddenly tense up.

"What's up, Ichi-"

Ichigo threw up a hand and cut Ganju off, "Someone's there."

Sure enough stepping out the mist hugging the cliff-face was a red haired Soul Reaper with a heavily tattooed face. The only other thing that stood out besides that was the futuristic looking visor. I was a little surprised by the lack of a lieutenant armband, but it was a distant thought.

The Soul Reaper moved through the last bit of the mist before stopping at the base of the stairs.

"Long time no see…" he said, moving the visor to cover his forehead. "I hope you can still remember my face?"

"Renji Abarai..." Ichigo growled.

"That's a surprise… you even remembered my name. You have a good memory." said Renji.

"Thanks for the compliment."

The two of them seemed to ignore the rest of us during their little reunion. Which was probably a good thing.

Ganju was sweating heavily and looked nervous but was holding his composure well enough.

"W-who is this guy? He's not like any of the guys we met before… he's on a completely different level…"

"Aah… t-that… that person is Renji Abarai… Lieutenant of squad six!" Hanataro stammered out.

Looking at him, he was a mess. His entire body was shaking, tears were gathering in his eyes, sweat was pouring off of him, and he was having difficulty breathing.

After he announced that the last of Ganju's composure broke.

"A Lieutenant!?"

In the meantime Renji and Ichigo were off in their own world ignoring the rest of us.

"I must admit I was surprised to see you. I was certain you would be a deadman after I saw Captain Kuchiki attack you like that." said Renji as he advanced on us.

Ichigo also started to move forwards to meet him.

"Hey Ichigo wait! Don't go rushing in!" yelled Ganju, but went unheard.

"Don't bother Ganju," I said. "This is a grudge match for those two."

"A grudge match?"

"Yeah, the two of them fought in the world of the living, but it was interrupted so I guess they want to pick up where they left off."

"I don't know how you managed to survive that, but it seems there is more to you than I first believed," Renji continued drawing his sword. "But as I told you, I'm going to kill the one who stole Rukia's powers. So this is as far as you go."

Ichigo said nothing but grasped the hilt of his sword.

"Because as long as you live, Rukia can never regain her powers!" said Renji accelerating into a run.

Ichigo matched him. "What do you care about that, when you just sentenced her to death!" he shouted, pulling his Zanpakuto off his back and swinging it to meet Renji's.

The two blades met in a fierce clash before the two of them ground to a halt. Both of them pressing against the other trying to physically overpower his opponent. Sparks occasionally flashed where the two blades met, but in the initial clash both of them were evenly matched.

They disengaged briefly before Ichigo pressed the attack, catching Renji on the defensive. With a loud shout Ichigo overpowered him, pushing until Renji was pushed up against the cliff.

"He overpowered Lieutenant Abarai…" said Hanataro somewhat disbelievingly. "Ichigo… what kind of person is he…?"

Ganju seemed stunned as well, "Yeah, I'd like an answer to that myself."

I said nothing, keeping my eyes on the fight.

Sure enough the flow of the battle shifted as Renji shoved Ichigo backwards, releasing his shikai and sending him skidding backwards with a continuous thrusting attack. I watched impassively as Ichigo skidded towards us, held in place by the force of Renji's attack and unable to stop or deflect it.

Ganju and Hanataro dove out of the way, but I allowed Ichigo to crash into me absorbing some of the force, while at the same time I traced Bakuya and swung upwards, deflecting Renji's Zabimaru up into the air. Both Ichigo and I slid back a few more feet from the force of the attack, but we didn't hit the building behind us.

"You alright?" I asked.

Ichigo pushed off of me, getting back into a ready stance. "Yeah, thanks for the save, but leave him to me from now on."

I gave him a quick nod and moved back over to the other two.

"It seems like, you thought you understood my strength after just one fight," said Renji, his sword collapsing back down into itself as he approached. "But let me tell you something. When Lieutenant level Shinigami or higher go to the world of the living severe limits are placed on their powers so they don't adversely affect the souls living there."

He came to a stop.

"Right now, I'm five times stronger compared to the last time we met! There is no chance of you defeating me." He said confidently.

Ichigo smirked at him, "Heh, If that was the best you got, than I think I can handle eleven more like you, no problem."

I gave him a quick look-over. He was definitely bluffing hard right now. Even with me minimizing any damage from the first strike, he was still wobbly on his feet. I wouldn't step in immediately, but I would keep an eye out for when he couldn't continue. Afterall I had no assurances that Ichigo would win this fight, canon or no, but at the very least I would see that he doesn't die from it.

Renji went on the attack again

Zabimaru extended out in a wide arc that crashed into Ichigo's side. Ichigo barely managed to get his sword into position to block before he was launched further away from us.

With a huge leap into the air, Renji followed after him using his extending blade to keep Ichigo on the defensive. Slowly pushing him up against the buildings in the area and penning him in.

Ichigo wasn't making it easy for him though, he deflected and dodged with an impressive level of skill, not allowing himself to overcommit to a block or corner himself.

The flow of the battle was slightly against him however as hits started stacking up. It was pretty obvious Ichigo was hurting in terms of stamina right now. Blood loss generated anemia by the look of it. The signs were more noticable the longer they clashed, Ichigo was taking more hits being slower to get out of the way.

Renji used a crushing overhead attack that kicked up a cloud of dust and debris that forced Ichigo to jump up out of the way only for a sweeping upward attack to intercept him, which he barely managed to block. In fact the attack not entirely blocked as a spurt of blood erupted from Ichigo's shoulder where the block was too shallow and he got nicked.

The battle shifted up to the roof of a nearby building and we temporarily lost sight of them.

Hanataro was shaking again, stuttering out half words without actually saying anything, "...T-this isn't good… he's being completely overwhelmed! T-trying to t-ta-take on a Lieutenant like this? It's madness!" he eventually managed.

"Ichigo will be fine," I reassured him, eyes still scanning the rooftop following the new signs of destruction. "He's too stubborn to be taken out this early in the game."

"He's stubborn alright, but this isn't the kind of game you get second chances in." Ganju said as the building the two had been fighting on collapsed into rubble.

I nodded, conceding his point. I was still waiting for the moment that Ichigo was completely out of the fight, because if he didn't pass his limit here…

Well fighting Zaraki would be interesting if I needed to get involved.

With that line of thinking in the background, I noticed both Ichigo and Renji standing in the rubble shouting something at each other. They were too far away for me to hear them clearly.

"I don't think he can keep this up much longer." said Ganju worriedly.

"Yeah"

"You're one of his friends right? Shouldn't you help him out right about now?"

I gave him a tight smile, "Teammate if anything, and not yet."

"Not yet?! Why the hell not!" he yelled back.

"Ichigo isn't done with the fight just yet. Until he gives up or can't fight anymore I won't step in."

This was hard. I was fighting between the knowledge of a show I had watched in a different universe mixed with the duel mentality everyone seemed to unconsciously follow I picked up at some point, and the desire to step in and not let a fifteen year-old get cut to pieces in front of me.

It was a fine balance between the two, waiting only winning out because I knew saving him now meant he wouldn't be ready for threats down the line.

Renji continued his assault. More hits raining down on Ichigo, even if they were all turned away it had to be burning up the last of his energy.

Suddenly, Ichigo shot forward sprinting at Renji in a bid of going on the offensive. Renji responded with a long distance thrust, Ichigo ducked to the left allowing it to go over his shoulder. Again with a thrust, this time a sidestep to the right. The third thrust was faster than the previous forcing Ichigo to parry it into the air, but once again he avoided the attack.

Renji was left off balance and perfectly open. Ichigo raised his sword for a finishing blow…

Only to miss as Renji shifted to the side at the last moment.

"Ichigo!" both Ganju and Hanataro yelled, as Renji capitalized on the opening to cut Ichigo from shoulder to hip.

More blood exploded out of the battered teen as the Lieutenant stood over him, sword raised for the final blow.

I muttered a curse while tracing my bow. An arrow was ready to go, but that last niggling doubt remained, and I couldn't bring myself to release the string. If I interfered now, Ichigo doesn't consciously use his full power and then he would be entirely unprepared for Captain level combat.

But if I was wrong that wouldn't matter.

Because Ichigo would be dead.

The decision was taken out of my hands when Renji's sword fell. I cursed again, dismissing the arrow before forming one much more dangerous than the enchanted electric one I initially had. If I played this badly then at least I wanted Renji to feel the full impact of his mistake.

Both of our mistake… I certainly didn't feel blameless standing around like I had.

Thankfully, I hadn't butterflied this particular moment as Ichigo caught Zabimaru by one of the spikes that protruded out of the blade. The sudden reversal seemed to stun Renji so badly that he was blown back from the sudden outpouring of power from Ichigo.

Renji was sent skidding back a few feet, still off balance, the shock on his face clear even at the distance between us.

Ichigo was now standing fully upright, all traces of his earlier exhaustion seemingly vanished as he raised his sword in preparation to attack. Thankful that I hadn't killed Ichigo through inaction I dismissed my weapons and turned to Hanataro.

"You have anything that would stop bleeding in that pack of yours?" I asked despite knowing the answer.

Hanataro didn't even look at me, eyes still firmly on the two combatants, "y-yes, all squad four members carry medical supplies during an emergency."

I nodded, "Good, we will need to help Ichigo qui-" the shouts of both Hanataro and Ganju made my head snap back to where Ichigo was fighting.

Both combatants had collapsed. Renji was now covered in blood from the one attack he received and his sword had been shattered. Ichigo wasn't in much better shape, but at least he was alive.

"Okay, move you two. We need to get him treated or he's going to bleed out."

As a group, we all rushed to Ichigo's side and got our first look at how severe the damage really was. It was concerning, naturally, since he was bleeding from several severe sword wounds.

Ganju started to move Ichigo into a more accessible position, but Hanataro was just kinda standing there, staring at the fallen lieutenant.

"Hanataro."

"Hanataro."

"HANATARO!" I ended up yelling.

Finally he started out of his stupor, "Ah, y-yes?"

"Get over here and help!"

"Y-yes! Right awa-" he suddenly stopped and looked off in the distance. If he didn't have a good reason, I'd feed him a greatsword. "Someone's coming. Three people… no four, maybe even five!"

Dammit that's a good reason.

"That's bad, we can't deal with that many people right now." said Ganju.

I nodded to that, "Right change of plans, we're leaving. Ganju, grab Ichigo. Hanataro, I assume you know a deserted place we could go?"

He nodded rapidly.

"Great, we'll follow you then."

With that the four of us disappeared back into the maze of corridors that made up the Seireitei.

 

[Azura]

Spirit 2.7

It was several hours later until we finally could relax a bit.

I had spent some of the time patching up Ganju, but the majority of our efforts had been on Ichigo. He was better off than expected really. Despite several deep gashes in his torso none of the damage went as deep as his internal organs, even so between all the blood loss and lacerations Hanataro had spent hours just getting him healed enough that he wouldn't die if we left him alone too long.

Even then I spent most of the time as an aide rather than helping directly. Turns out, rather obviously, two healing methods using completely different power sources didn't mix well, so we had to choose which one to use.

And while my healing spells were just as good, I personally was less qualified as a medic so Hanataro took the job as Ichigo's healer.

Not that Ichigo seemed to care about getting healed up. The second he regained consciousness he tried to limp back out to continue deeper into the Seireitei. Luckily for him Ganju knocked him out before he got too far, saying that it was better he did it than leaving it to me. I wasn't sure if I should have been insulted or not. After all, I wasn't really going to hit Ichigo with a frying pan to stop him from being an idiot.

Didn't stop me from getting a few worried glances from the other two every once and awhile though.

Seriously, no one could take a joke.

Once that bit of drama was out of the way, everyone settled pretty quickly. Ichigo was still out for the count, Ganju had fallen asleep against a wall, Hanataro was focusing on healing Ichigo completely, and I was drilling Hanataro for information on the Seireitei.

He was incredibly helpful in pointing out the locations of interesting locations that weren't shown on the maps I had picked up. As it stood, I now knew the locations of nearly all the Squad barracks, hidden routes mostly used as shortcuts by Squad Four, and most importantly where the Captain's offices where. Specifically the office of Squad Five.

I felt a little bad tricking Hanataro into telling me these things since I phrased it that I wanted to know so we wouldn't go anywhere near them if we could help it, just to turn around and use this to break into one of the offices the first chance I got.

The kid was far too earnest, by far.

But this gave me the perfect chance to derail Aizen's distraction plot if I could snatch the letter he left behind before anyone looked at it.

Out of the many plots Aizen had going on during the execution, the one that always bothered me the most was the breaking of his lieutenant. It was cruel, unnecessary, and something I wasn't going to let happen.

So I decided this would be the moment I stopped trying to allow canon to proceed while dancing around the edges and started doing things for myself. Afterall just because I recognized the setting didn't mean things would play out the same way. Things were already moving in different directions just by me being here. The third seat of Squad Two never made an appearance as far as I could tell, so it wasn't like things would change from that point on.

This was me just finally accepting that. Kinda.

Annoying fact about knowing the future, or at least a possible future, you tend to grab onto that future and use it as the guideline for all your current behaviors.

Breaking off into unknown territory was far more frightening. So much so that I think I was delaying this moment subconsciously. Even if I was clearly more powerful than Ichigo at the moment, I had taken great pains to move stealthily for no real reason other than avoiding high level Soul Reapers. But I had already planned to fight three captain level opponents just by helping with this little rescue mission.

So, time to stop putting this off and actually commit.

I stood up and made my way over to Hanataro, who was still laboring to heal Ichigo. This would be the best time to break off since Ganju had passed out a few hours ago.

"Hey Hanataro," I called out to get his attention. "I'll be going out on my own. Just let the others know when they wake up."

Clearly tired from hours of healing, Hanataro blearily blinked at me before actually realizing what I said.

"Wait, going out on your own? Why?"

"Simple, we are probably going to draw a lot of attention for taking down a lieutenant. I wouldn't be surprised if there are guards in place waiting for us tomorrow." I lied through my teeth. "So I'm going to go make sure any enemy attention is on me while you all continue to the tower."

"But what if you need help? Or if you run into another Lieutenant?" He asked.

"I can take care of myself just fine," I chided him. "And I could get away from a lieutenant just fine if needed."

I started walking away from the group, calling back over my shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll meet up with you at the tower. Take care!" before making my way back to the surface.

Some time later I found myself hiding outside the Squad Five barracks. Dawn had come and gone meaning all the high level officers should be off to their duties. Of course that probably meant that Lieutenant Momo Hinamori had found Aizen's "dead" body and was in jail. Not ideal since I wanted to spare her the breakdown, but not something I was in a position to change. Especially since fighting the entire squad to get access to the captain's rooms wasn't a realistic option.

The barracks was hopefully pretty empty by now, all the normal Soul Reapers were off looking for our group, and the officers should be coordinating the reports coming in and trying to keep the other daily tasks needed to run the squads operating as normal even with a bunch of highly destructive people running around causing issues.

So it was simple for me to make my way up to the upper floor of the barracks right outside the officer's area without being spotted. I ducked in and out of a few of the rooms on the way trying to determine which one was Aizen's, until I finally found the rooms I was looking for.

The large brushwork 'five' easily identified the owner of the room since I hadn't seen anything like it in any of the other much smaller rooms. The high quality, if simple, furniture had some fancy writing implements and a few documents laying about but much of the...living room?...sure why not, living room was pretty barren actually.

Outside of a few bookcases, a short legged table, and a desk there wasn't anything else in the room. Not surprising, since Aizen liked to play the humble, helpful, dependable captain. I figured his bedroom was much the same, but had absolutely no desire to go through his stuff so I moved to the table and started going through the papers there.

The letter in question was sitting out in the open, so that was easily snatched up.

Mission accomplished.

Poking around the other papers on the table didn't turn up anything really interesting. Though it turned out Aizen did poetry when he wasn't murdering and/or experimenting on people.

Hidden depths, whaddya know?

I turned and walked towards the door intent on just meeting back up with Ichigo's group when the bedroom door suddenly opened and a diminutive figure rushed out and bowed in my direction.

"I'm very sorry Captain Aizen, I didn't mean to fall asleep!" the small figure, who I now recognized as Lieutenant Hinamori, rapidly said.

She quickly glanced up at me before a confused look appeared on her face. "You aren't Captain Aizen…"

Between the sudden appearance of a person who definitely shouldn't still be here -seriously all the other soul reapers have been up for almost two hours now- and the personal disappointment she actually managed to catch me completely by surprise, I kinda froze up.

"Um...yeah?"

Brilliant Alex, just brilliant.

The Lieutenant slowly straightened up, "You're one of the Ryoka, aren't you."

For whatever reason, my brain was still rebooting, "Well, I've been known to hang out with some of them." I slowly started backing up towards the door. I doubted I was going to be allowed to just walk away, but having a headstart to choose a battleground before she caught me wasn't a bad idea.

Cautious eyes followed the movement reminding me despite fans liking to joke about how useless a lieutenant Hinamori was, she was still one of the more powerful members of the Seireitei and would have needed to face down several powerful hollows over her career.

Just as I reached the door she saw the letter still gripped in my hand. The cautious look morphed into a harder, angry one. "You broke in here to steal Captain Aizen's documents?!" She accused, "Give that back!"

By this point I finally recovered from her sudden intrusion. I gave the smaller girl a smirk. "I went through all the effort of getting it in the first place," I taunted "If you want it back, i guess you will need to take it."

With that remark, I spun on my heel and rushed out the door, pouring on as much speed as I could. The enraged shriek behind me told me everything I needed to know about if I was being pursued or not.

A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that I was indeed being chased by a now very angry lieutenant. Also I needed to dodge.

A sphere of red flame streaked through the air and only narrowly missed me. I mentally cursed of course Hinamori would use Kido, it was what she was supposedly most talented at after all.

A quickly traced throwing dagger was fairly effortlessly deflected but did distract her from finishing another Kido, but all that meant was Hinamori responded with a weaker spell than what she had been casting earlier.

Two streaks of fiery blue light exploded on the path in front of me causing the walls to collapse and blocking off the route. In response I quickly leaped up to roof-level.

Which put me on top of a fairly large warehouse with a nice flat roof. Good enough place as any I supposed. With a lieutenant chasing after me throwing fireballs the whole way I was only going to attract more attention. This was out of the way enough that no one should interfere.

Turning back to face my pursuer, I saw her land on the roof, sword already released, and glare at me.

"A little eager, aren't we?" I called out. "You haven't even introduced yourself and you're ready to go all out. That's poor manners, little miss lieutenant."

If anything her glare intensified.

"Return Captain Aisen's documents and surrender. You can't escape."

Well she's confident. It might have been impressive if she didn't look like a twelve year old with a fancy sword.

I told her as much, adding "and you seem way less of a fighter than the red-head we ran into, so forgive me for not quivering in fear."

Probably the wrong thing to bring up based on how she was now trying to kill me with her eyes. "You were the one who hurt Abarai-kun?! You're going to pay for that." She growled, before launching a series of fireballs at me.

I was a little taken aback that she attacked after coming to that conclusion. Yeah it was wrong, but if you decide the person in front of you nearly killed a lieutenant stronger than you and was seeming fine the next day, you would think attacking head on was a bad idea.

Of course then I remembered in the canon timeline Hinamori decided attacking two different captains head on was a good idea and her actions didn't surprise me as much.

Sidestepping the fireballs, I traced my twin swords and rushed forward quickly closing the distance between us. More fireballs streaked towards me but I was fast enough to dodge them without anything worse than a near miss.

Both my swords came down in a twin strike to her shoulder that was clumsily blocked by the angry lieutenant and she was flung backwards. Odd, I shouldn't have been able to push her back that easily.

"You need to better than that to beat me, miss lieutenant!" I called, if she was going to fight angry than I was going to use that to my advantage.

Though I wondered how much I needed that advantage. I had a very small pool of opponents to compare to Hinamori, but the squad two officer from the other day seemed to be a stronger opponent in every way except Kido. A frown made its way onto my face when I thought that.

I know Hinamori wasn't shown to be as combat proficient as far as lieutenants go, but surely she should at least be on the same level as a third seat officer from another squad?

A growl pulled me out of my thoughts as Hinamori charged me instead of continuing to attack from a distance.

A strike going at my neck was blocked caught by crossing both of my swords and Hinamori twisted her balde in a way that locked all three blades together.

"Are you not taking me seriously or something?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Cause I think I win in physical stre-"

I was interrupted by a bright red fireball erupting from the base of her blade and exploding in my face that sending me skidding across the rooftop.

As soon as I got some traction on the roof I flipped myself back onto my feet and flung myself off to a side just as even more fireballs crashed into my previous position.

Note to self, even weaker Lieutenants are dangerous if you let your guard down.

Hinamori stopped attacking after seeing me recover from her surprise attack. It looked like she had finally calmed down and was thinking again rather than attacking out of blind anger.

"I'm being very serious, Ryoka." She said, still sounding angry enough. "First all of you run around the Seireitei and hurt all those people, then you injure Abarai-kun to that point and we can't even help him because of his captain, and then you break in to steal from Captain Aizen?! All you people do is hurt people."

Hinamori seemed to tremble with fury.

"I don't want to fight… but if it's to stop people like you, I'll fight with everything I have!"

… well then. Turns out Hinamori is a magical girl when she isn't being super obsessive about Aizen.

Not… not really sure how to deal with that, honestly. Especially since I seem to have been cast as the villain at the moment.

I cocked my head to one side while I considered that. A group of superstrong invaders attacking the Seireitei for seemingly no reason, each one they are aware of strong enough to beat elite defenders at every encounter, and one of the most powerful of them is defeated when he confronts the invaders.
Then by pure chance a kind hearted young girl discovers one of the invaders stealing from one of the highest ranked leaders and is forced to fight to recover what was stolen.
Yeah, that seems kinda like the setup to a magical girl plot.

So I'm the villain now. Yay.

At least black looks good on me.

 

[pendevin]

Good chapter, but you forgot to close the italics tag.

 

[Azura]

Spirit 2.8

While I was lost in my imagination the two of us continued to perform a dance well known to any fighter. We set ourselves up to take advantage of perceived openings while moving to guard against potential attacks in a game of mental chess.

For now we were stalemated, as neither one of us were willing to launch the first attack. So I decided to continue talking to see if I could knock her off balance that way.

"Interesting choice of words, considering your side attacked us first."

Hinamori looked a bit shocked but her guard stayed up, "How could we have attacked you first?! The Seireitei only fights Hollows!"

"Tell that to the Quincies." I said dryly. And she did have the decency to wince at the reminder that the Soul Reapers had basically wiped out a sub-race of humanity no matter how necessary it was. "But more recently, your red-headed friend and his captain nearly killed an associate of mine when they came to drag a certain someone off for execution. For nothing more than just being forced into a position where he needed to use her powers to survive.
He'd be dead too, if he wasn't lucky enough to get healing fast enough."

"He was aiding a criminal…" Hinamori said, though I could tell her heart wasn't in it.

"Perhaps," I agreed, "though most people wouldn't just let a friend be executed just because someone else comes along and tells them they are a criminal. So naturally we decided to stop that."

It was a little annoying that despite all the fan comments, Hinamori was actually a competent opponent. Throughout the entire conversation she was keeping her guard up, but it was starting to feel like I might be able to get her to stand down based on her reluctance to fight.

"So you are hurting all these people just to rescue a criminal?"

"To be fair, we are trying to keep the damages as light as we can."

The Lieutenant's eyes widened to an almost comical degree, "How can you call any of what you did light? An entire squad is out of commission because of you! Not to mention what happened to the officers you encountered!" She nearly shouted at me, which was fair if a little naive.

"They aren't dead for one." I pointed out.

Hinamori looked uncomfortable at that, shuffling a tiny bit. "Why are you here…" she said in a near whisper.

I frowned, didn't I just go over this?

"We are here to stop-"

"No, not that" she interrupted me, "why are you here. You said that it was an acquaintance that nearly died that made you come here. Not a friend being taken.

The others you mentioned might be here for that. Not you."

It was my turn to shuffle uncomfortably. I was not expecting Hinamori to be this perceptive. The internet lied to me about her being worthless.

Good thing I was working around to telling her this anyway. A version of it more accurately. There wasn't a chance in hell Hinamori would believe Aizen was anything but someone to look up to.

"Ignoring that you consider me the type of person to stand around when someone is sent to be executed," my annoyance definitely came through in my voice and Hinamori blushed a bit while looking a touch sheepish, "there are certain traitorous elements in the Seireitei that have been causing atrocities for over the past hundred years. As I told the squad two officer last time they had their hands in all kinds of messes. But they have plans that will affect where I live if they are left alone, so I'm here to stop them before they ruin my home. Its where I keep all my stuff after all." I injected some false cheer into the last bit, but it went seemingly unnoticed by my opponent.

"And you decided to invade us instead of just letting someone know because...?" She questioned, it sounded like she was getting less willing to hear me out. Shame. I doubted anything I said would stop us from fighting since I wasn't going to surrender and she didn't look like she would let me go.

"Would you listen to a group of people saying that there were captains commiting crimes around the Soul Society and planning to do worse?" I questioned in turn.

"Captain…? There's no way a captain wou-" "Kurotsuchi" "... we would give any report of such things all the attention it deserves." She finished weakly.

"So it would be brushed off as unimportant if it ever was passed along at all." I nodded.

"T-that doesn't explain why you were stealing from Captain Aizen" Hinamori stammered.

"I had reason to believe Aizen is aware of exactly who the traitors are. I was hoping that he had some proof on who they were or a clue to where they operate." I half-lied, idly twirling one of my swords.

"Then you should surrender! I can talk to Captain Aizen and get him to listen to you about the traitors, I'm sure he would help you if you're really telling the truth."

I couldn't help the rueful smile on my face when I heard the qualifier. Yeah, maybe she didn't want to fight, but she wasn't going to let me go. "What if I can't surrender because Aizen is connected to the traitors?" I questioned, mostly to see how she would react. I know she is fanatical about Aizen but maybe getting her to recognize the possibility would stop her from going completely nuts when he showed his true colors.

What I wasn't expecting was for Hinamori to lose all emotion in her face and prepare to attack. "I see, you were just lying to get me to lower my guard."

Weeell, she wasn't wrong. And clearly I forgot the first rule of dealing with fanatics. Don't try to get them to question their beliefs. They get defensive, or in her case ready to cut me with a sword.

I tried to deny her accusation, but it fell on deaf ears as two fireballs erupted out of Hinamori's palm, curving to hit me from either side as she swung her sword to send yet another fireball right at me.

I jumped back as all three crashed into the spot I was just standing, catching the diagonal downward sword swing between both my swords as Hinamori burst through the resulting smoke cloud.

"Did I touch a nerve?" I said, forcing the blade down to my left and using the momentum to spin-kick the smaller girl in the ribs. She gasped in pain before being sent bouncing across the roof. I considered trying a knockout shot with one of my remaining pistols but, unlike with the third seat, Hinamori had her full attention on me and I wasn't going to hit her with a surprise shot so I doubted it would do any more damage than some light burns.

Instead I charged after the skidding lieutenant, closing the distance quickly and slashing at her with Bakuya and using Kansho to keep her blade pointed away from me, stopping her from using more fireballs to get distance. She recovered slightly but was still forced to give ground as I used my longer reach to keep her on the defensive, a deep cut on her shoulder seeping blood where I managed to slip past her guard.

Despite that Hinamori was still putting up an excellent fight, a sideways strike forced me to back off some which allowed her the space she needed to get her footing. A quick Shunpo and she was suddenly on the other side of the roof with plenty of space to recover.

Kansho was sacrificed as I threw it to detonate yet another fireball flying at me, kicking up a thick smokescreen that hid Hinamori from view.

Bakuya got the same treatment when the Lieutenant appeared off to my right with another Shunpo.

This was bad.

Hinamori's Shunpo was not as fast as my Haste spell, but it was far more maneuverable as I could only go forwards with the current version. She would be free to jump around the battlefield chipping away at me with fireballs forever at this rate.

So I needed to limit her mobility somehow.

Another fireball appeared going for my back that was detonated using a throwaway blade kicking up even more smoke. I decided now was as good a time as any to try out one of my new acquisitions as a black chain formed in my hands.

I would be lying if I said I enjoyed the squeak of surprise that slipped out of the lieutenant when she was forced to deflect the length of chain heading for her face. Sparks appeared where the links skated over her blade as she redirected the chain over her shoulder and I rushed forwards again trying to close distance while I channeled some mana down the chain, ready to wrap around her as soon as she moved her sword.

Her eyes widened when she saw me coming but rather than try evading like I wanted, her left hand swung forward to point at me and an orb of blue fire raced towards my feet.

I thought she just missed after rushing the shot until I felt the roof give out below me. My eyes widened as I began to fall through the new hole in the structure.

The bitch blew out the floor to stop me from getting close!

Before I fell very far, I sent a pulse of mana through the kusarigama making the chain respond to my will. The chain sprung to life and coiled around Hinamori's leg dragging her down into the hole with me.

Her startled squawk was music to my ears and would have brought a smile to my face if it wasn't in the process of slamming into the warehouse floor.

Thick clouds of dust blocked most of the inside from view but from what I could see the building was rather empty. Only a few large crates placed randomly throughout the place kept it from being totally barren. Though one of them was a splintered wreck I noticed, since it seemed Hinamori was lucky enough to land on it rather than the floor.

Speaking of, the lieutenant was currently staring bloody murder at me while fighting herself free from the remains of the box she was half trapped in.

"How do you have that weapon?" She demanded.

If I didn't run into this issue with Yoruichi I would have been really confused to the increased desire to kill me, but fearing that someone had ripped part of your comrade's soul from them and was going to use it against you was funny like that.

"I picked this little treasure up from the last officer I had the pleasure of meeting. She was much more polite than you by the way. She actually introduced herself." I conveniently left out that I hadn't returned the favor, but we were talking about Hinamori's manners not mine. "It looked like it would be fun to play with, I might try yours out after this." I teasingly finished, tracing a copy of her sword in my off hand.

Her face did an odd combination of paleing of shock and reddening from rage that was actually rather concerning.

"You steal Zanpakutou?" she asked, sounding horrified.

"Nope. Just copy them." I flippantly replied. I had a feeling this was going to come up a lot in the future. Best be upfront about it so the entire Seireitei isn't howling for my head. "A mirror image, if you will."

Hinamori relaxes the tiniest bit at that before growling and launching another fireball from her sword before trying to Shunpo away.

I countered her fireball with one of my own -and holy hell is that so much more draining than using mana based abilities- and interrupt her Shunpo by yanking on the chain still tied around her leg.

Missing a step, Hinamori is sent skidding over the floor and into another one of the crates causing another explosion of dust. Which is unfortunately ignited when my second fireball slams into her and causes a secondary explosion.

Oops, didn't mean for that to happen.

"You still alive miss lieutenant?"

A coughing Hinamori stumbles out of the smoke left behind from her explosive experience, looking incredibly disheveled. Her left shoulder was still bleeding somewhat badly, but now she was covered in slight to moderate burns. The worst being the burned section above her right hip where the fireball hit her directly.

She made a show of getting back into a guard position but we both knew it was more a token resistance than ability to continue the fight. After a few more coughs she was able to meet my eyes and get mostly under control.

She opened her mouth to say something before an overwhelming feeling of bloodlust and Reiatsu even I could easily detect with my horrible sensory skills filled the air.

 

[Azura]

-forgot to how to computer-
-2.9 and interlude should be fixed-

 

[deathgeonous]

Well, this is just a ton of fun. I LIKE!

 

[deathgeonous]

A nice little update, and one I wasn't expecting, content wise. It was a nice surprise.

 

[Azura]

AN: Guess who forgot to upload the a chapter? Whoops

Spirit 2.9

It was moments like this that made me relatively grateful I was so poor at sensing Reiatsu. While I was able to get the broadest strokes of presences once they were strong enough, they still didn't get more accurate than 'there is a lot of it' and 'its that-ish way'. Hinamori on the other hand looked like someone dropped the sky on her. She was sweating like crazy and looked ready to faint from just the effort of standing up.

Moments later the presence cut out and Hinamori collapsed in relief. From the way she just glared at me while remaining on her knees, I assumed that the sudden pressure from what I was suspecting was Ichigo and Zaraki knocked out what little energy she had left.

Good thing too, since I doubted I had time to continue this fight for much longer before someone came to investigate.

I cautiously approached the fallen Lieutenant dismissing both the copy of her weapon and my kusarigama, whose chain had actually been shattered in the explosion. I stopped a few feet away from her and just kinda stood there.

Hinamori continued staring angrily at me from the ground, still lacking the energy to move. I gave her a hesitant smile.

This is awkward.

"So, uhh… sorry this is ending like this, but I think I need to go pickup a teammate, um, better luck next time?"

"Captain Aizen will stop you." She declared. I didn't really have anything to say to that so I simply knocked her out and placed a stronger version of the sleeping curse on her. That way she would remain unconscious for the next five days or so unless someone managed to disrupt the spell or shock her out of it.

I figured leaving the lieutenant to bleed to death in a warehouse wouldn't win me any points with the Seireitei so I also hit her with a quick healing spell. Not nearly enough to fix her up, but it stopped any bleeding and made it so her burns looked a few days old rather than just inflicted.

Basic first aid, magical edition.

Now that the lieutenant had been dealt with, I began speeding towards my best guess of Ichigo's location. I was praying that this wasn't the time I found out that I butterflied something that made everything worse for us, because this was the second of three instances where Ichigo was a hair away from death.

Thankfully once I had gotten past the stairs we were at yesterday, it was very easy to spot the trail of destruction caused by the duel between Ichigo and the squad 11 captain. The skyline with a clearly missing building gave me a good place to start and the surrounding rubble created a trail that led me right to the ending place of the fight pretty easily.

I sprinted around the corner and felt everything crash to a halt as I got an eyeful of a very naked Yoruichi pasting something over one of the many cuts on Ichigo's torso.

"About time you got here! Hurry up and grab him, we need to get him to a safe house now." She snapped.

"Uhhh…"

"Alexandria!"

"R-right! Coming…"

-o-​

A while later after a frantic rush through the streets, ducking in and out of random buildings, jumping rooftops, and me being left behind for several minutes while Yoruichi flew off with Ichigo on a giant skeletal wing until she came back for me, I found myself leaning with my back to the wall and eyes firmly closed while Yoruichi tended to the wounded teen.

"I wouldn't have thought you were this shy, Alexandria. Especially since you spent months around Kisuke with little problem." Yoruichi called over.

I cracked an eyelid, nope still very naked. "I can joke about it, sure. But casual nudity is a little out of my comfort zone."

"Your surprisingly innocent, you know that?" she scoffed, "Anyways, who got you all ruffled? I know you didn't run into a captain, so clearly one of the lieutenants out there gave you a better show than you expected."

I let out a long sigh, "Yeah, Aizen's lieutenant. She caught me going through his stuff and was surprisingly crafty. Really likes fireballs by the way."

"Why were you going through Aizen's stuff?"

"Wanted to see if I could raid his underwear drawer and scatter them all over the place." I deadpanned.

I could practically feel the disbelieving glare coming from the assassin. But I let the silence stretch for a little bit before relenting.

"Fine, I went to raid his paperwork. I found a letter he wrote to try and set up some other captain as his murderer. So he probably faked his death by now and is hiding out somewhere until the execution."

"..."

"What?"

"Why the hell would Aizen try framing a Captain for his murder when we are running around? Let me see that letter."

Yoruichi snached the letter out of my hand while I shifted into a more comfortable position.

"Well, we have been going out of our way to be non-lethal so it's kinda weird for us to just off a captain. But more likely, however Aizen faked his death wouldn't stand up to scrutiny if the rest of the squads aren't focused on something else. We are distracting, sure. But we haven't disrupted enough of the other squads for them to ignore the death of a Captain for us." I theorized while she read Aizen's letter.

Yoruichi hummed in thought, "Its possible," she conceded, "though most likely he's using some throwaway plans to in an effort to remove a few more officer-level Shinigami before he reveals himself."

Eyes still closed, I tilted my head in her direction, "what do you mean?"

"Oh for…" there was a flash of blue light and a much deeper voice continued, "There, better?"

Cracking an eye again I saw Yoruichi went back to her cat form. After giving her a smile and a nod, she continued.

"Aizen's ultimate goal is to get his hands on the Hogyoku." she reminded me, "while I'm sure he feels confident to escape from three or even four captains, he would probably take precautions so nothing goes wrong with actually acquiring it in the first place.

In this case, we can probably conclude his lieutenant isn't part of his main group and was to be sacrificed being sent against Captain Hitsugiya. If by some miracle she takes him out, the squads are down a captain. Otherwise they still need to investigate and Lieutenant Hinamori is either already dead or imprisoned.

In either case, squad five is out both its senior officers and certain duties will need to be handled by other squads and they will need to investigate the assault so even more manpower is tied up."

Yoruichi started to pace around the room.

"You said his lieutenant caught you?" I nodded. "How badly did you put her down? If she recovers quickly enough, Aizen might try to goad her into attacking someone again."

I gave her a quick summary. Nothing more serious than one decent sword wound and some burns, if it wasn't for the curse Hinamori would probably have been fine in a few days.

You would think people would be more appreciative of Squad Four with recovery times like that but nope, Soul Reapers were stupid like that.

"Okay, good news is you probably stopped Aizen from any more attempts to use his lieutenant as a sacrificial pawn. Bad news is Aizen's plan was still partially successful."

I grimaced as I thought that through, "Cause now squad five is out its captain and lieutenant just like he wanted, dammit."

Yoruichi just nodded, "That's how it is dealing with Aizen. Even if his plan fails it still advances his interests somehow. Don't feel too down though, at least you managed to preserve some of the Goteijūsantai's fighting force from whatever Aizen hoped to accomplish in the future."

I lowered my head into my hands and let out a long groan, "Why couldn't this just be a simple rescue mission? Just go in, beat up the bad guys, and leave. Is that too much to ask for?"

Yoruichi put a consoling paw on my knee then went back to monitoring Ichigo.

I sighed and pulled out my idea's notebook. I had some thoughts about that AI I wanted to jot down.

-o-​

Hours later I was unsure whether to be grateful Ichigo's seemingly inextinguishable vitality allowed him to recover so quickly from near fatal wounds, or curse that he wouldn't stay down long enough to actually heal.

Everything started off nice enough, Ichigo woke up with little issue. Though he did surprise the both of us he was up so soon. Yoruichi decided she had enough of playing housepet and decided to kill Ichigo by reverting back to her human form right in front of him. My unimpressed glare was completely ignored by the cat-girl, who proceeded to flaunt her physique in an attempt to fluster me again while pretending to explain how she managed to transport Ichigo in his wounded state.

It was...partially successful, since my face felt like it was on fire when I dragged her into the side room, more of a storage closet really, to find her clothes. Her loudly complaining I wasn't this forceful the last time she reverted to her original form while I did my best to stuff her into an outfit certainly didn't help. Despite that, I could plainly see the amusement in her eyes as she went about getting dressed, taking longer than strictly necessary just to squeeze a bit more enjoyment out of the whole event.

I think Ichigo was ready to pass out from the images Yoruichi implied before I got angry and told her to get back to explaining her little flying artifact she was so proud of. Which she did, fully dressed even!

Until another massive spiritual presence flooded the Seireitei, then everything just went crazy.

Ichigo promptly 'stole' the wing artifact off of Yoruichi and then rushed out to confront what was probably yet another Captain level opponent stating he needed to go rescue his friends, ignoring the two stronger healthy combatants in the room. I just stared accusingly at Yoruichi for allowing it in the first place.

"What? He wouldn't stay put anyway." Yoruichi said, "Now he gets a look at what a proper Captain feels like, not one restricting himself for a better fight." She quickly packed up a few things before handing me a folded piece of paper. "I'll go make sure he doesn't get in over his head and meet you at this location. Don't play too long!" She said, then vanished with a Shunpo.

I stared at the empty space she used to be, -Don't play too long? What is that supposed to mean?- before I went to finish packing up my personal items.

Just as the last of my notes were packed away I heard someone land on the area outside of our little hideout, which instantly put me on edge. The hideout Yoruichi picked out was literally a hole in the wall. A repurposed cave that was used for storage on the far side of Sokyoku hill that was almost completely hidden from view by foliage near the entrance.

If someone was poking around I was either damn unlucky and they needed something in storage, or someone spotted us when we were rushing to get Ichigo to a place to heal up and sent people to investigate.

Since I doubted anyone would actually need anything in this place, I was certain I was about to have some very hostile visitors. With all of my stuff out of the way, I quickly traced my swords i and got ready for my guest to arrive.

There wasn't a door to the storage area I was in. Only a wooden gate that had remained open since Ichigo's sudden exit, so there was no dramatic entrance from the Soul Reaper.

Instead she just calmly walked through the entrance, sword drawn but curiously not released.

"You are very hard to find, miss Ryoka." The Soul Reaper said lightly. "I believe we were interrupted last time. Hopefully we can continue where we left off?"

I raised my swords in a crossed-guard looking for any sudden movements.

"Hi Natsumi. Sure, I have some time to spare."

 

[Azura]

Interlude NH

-Squad 4 Barracks-

Things had not been going well for Natsumi Hanakage ever since the Ryoka decided to launch their little invasion.

What should have been a straightforward tracking mission for an intruder had resulted in a dismantling of her team and her own defeat at the hands of a foe that barely seemed to take them seriously.

Since then, she had been all but imprisoned in the medical area by an increasingly overworked Squad 4. More and more casualties poured in as the majority of Squad 11 was collected from various battlegrounds, their own attempts at stopping the Ryoka not really going any better than hers did and various Seated Officers were discovered after being defeated in duels. As such, Captain Unohana was making her way through the barracks making sure that no one was giving the medics any unneeded stress as they dealt with anything from near-death cases such as Lieutenant Renji Abarai, who had arrived barely an hour after she did, to worms like Sanji Ikari, a member of a minor noble family who severely sprained his ankle and was practically demanding priority treatment from one of the attendants.

At the time Natsumi had been trying to convince her own attendant to let her leave and report back to Squad 2, bruises and concussion be damned. She was even being polite to the clearly overworked girl! Mostly. Okay, her temper was starting to take over but she really needed to contact her Captain.

When Natsumi saw Captain Unohana walking towards her, she thought it would be perfect to explain the urgency of the situation so she could leave. Then Ikari opened his mouth and drew the Captain's attention.

While the conversation between the two didn't carry down the hall, Natsumi suddenly felt very afraid of the gentle Captain. Something about her smile was just sending all kinds of warnings that annoying her would end badly. Luckily for him, Ikari must have felt the same since he gave the attendant no more issues.

By the time Unohana reached Natsumi and politely asked if she needed anything, all thoughts of trying to leave before getting cleared by the medics had been thoroughly suppressed. Instead Natsumi simply thanked the Captain and requested the attendant to alert her Captain she was awake and needed a meeting, as well as to retrieve her reports so she could keep up to date on the situation even if she couldn't leave.

By the smirk on the attendant's face, Natsumi wasn't fooling anyone. But they still granted her request and sent two messengers off, while Natsumi went back to her room.

Minutes later a different Squad 4 member arrived with stacks of paperwork and a message that Captain Soi-Fon was busy dealing with several immediate issues and would only have the time to see Natsumi in the morning.

After thanking the messenger, Natsumi followed him to a different area of the barracks where she was provided with another room. One meant for mostly recovered officers most likely, considering the desk along one of the walls.

She once again thanked the messenger, then sat down at the desk and began shifting through the various reports.

-o-​

Early next morning, Natsumi was finally getting caught up with the full state of the disaster that had happened since the rest of the Ryoka forces had appeared.

Squad 11 was essentially wiped out. The rank and file had run into a few high level combatants and in their normal brain dead fashion simply tried to overwhelm the invaders in a straightforward fight.

Needless to say, it did not go well. Now 80% of the squad was getting patched up along with their third, fifth, and eighth seat officers. Other squads had taken casualties but the 11th was by far the worst. However, the other squads were dealing with other issues than massive personnel loss.

Squad 6's Renji Abarai had been nearly killed facing the invaders. While that wasn't any different from the information Natsumi picked up from the staff's gossip network, what was shocking was that Abarai was promptly imprisoned after treatment on charges of dereliction and acts unbecoming of an officer.

That had the rest of Squad 6 running around like headless chickens trying to organise chain of command, patrol routes, normal day-to-day, and other things without bringing the attention of Captain Kuchiki down on them. Not that Natsumi could blame them, since the captain himself decided that an emergency situation was the perfect time to go insane and personally imprison his Lieutenant.

The other squads were doing a similar dance as various officers were disabled. Luckily most were only wounded, whether those were light or moderate wounds varied, but the officers could still perform most of their duties from a hospital bed if needed.

Squad 7's 4th Seat Jirōbō Ikkanzaka was not as fortunate.

The large man had been found early into the main invasion of the Ryoka with several crippling injuries. Some so grave that his career as a Shinigami was likely over barring a miracle.

Natsumi was so caught up in her paperwork that she didn't realize she was not alone until a cold voice startled her. "While it's nice to see you take your job seriously Third Seat Hanakage, I believe there was a matter that you needed to discuss with me?"

Instantly she snapped to attention and spun to face her captain, launching out of the chair that had been provided to her in the process. "Apologies Captain, I didn't notice you come in."

The commander of the Stealth Force and Captain of Squad 2 Soi-fon was standing in the middle of the office/bedroom Natsumi had been provided when it became clear she wasn't leaving. Thankfully while the captain did seem annoyed, it didn't seem like Natsumi was the direct source of it.

Which was a very good thing since despite being a few inches taller than her captain, the sheer weight of her gaze made Natsumi feel an inch tall. If she was the cause of her captain's mood there was no way she would feel capable of making her report.

'Which might change very soon, anyway.' she thought darkly. After all, her report wasn't good news.

"Report. I want to hear every detail about your encounter with the Ryoka."

Dutifully Natsumi recounted the entire encounter, explaining how a near textbook ambush failed so spectacularly, how a squad containing elites of the unit was taken down like academy initiates, and finally the conversation she had with the red and black clad invader.

Captain Soi-fon's face was a picture of anger by the end of the report. Natsumi was doing her best to look calm, but inside she was trembling. An angry captain wasn't something you wanted to be anywhere close to if it could be helped.

"Do you have any indication the Ryoka was lying about knowing the identity of the traitors?" The Captain asked once she calmed down some.

Natsumi was shocked, "I didn't see any overt signs of lying, but surely you can't be taking this seriously? Three traitors undiscovered for over a hundred years? Its unthinkable…"

"Normally, I might agree with you. However the Captain of Squad 5, Sousuke Aizen, failed to arrive for the morning Captain's meeting. Something that has only happened a handful of times during his time as a Captain. Initially we thought he was delayed by something caused by the Ryoka, but now we will need to locate him immediately and confirm he wasn't assassinated."

Her eyes sharpened and focused on Natsumi, "Third Seat Hanakage, how exactly did the Ryoka manage to defeat you in one attack."

It wasn't a question. Just a slightly more polite demand for an explanation.

"I…" Natsumi began haltingly, fidgeting under the gaze of her captain. "...I let my guard down." She finally admitted.

"When the Ryoka shattered my barrier and I caught her with Kusarihebi, I assumed she couldn't use another ranged attack without either spiking her Reiatsu or freeing herself first. So I relaxed my defences while I waited for reinforcements. Then the Ryoka pulled out a device that was capable of firing something like a Cero and it disabled me."

"She can use Cero?" The captain snapped, looking shocked.

Natsumi shook her head, "In form only, other than that the attack lacked the feel and power of even the weakest Ceros. But I left myself completely open and that was enough."

Captain Soi-fon nodded at the new information, "Very well, under normal circumstances are you capable of defeating this Ryoka?"

Natsumi carefully thought about her answer, "It's hard to say for certain since the Ryoka kept such a tight handle on her Reiatsu level the entire fight, but I don't believe she is out of my capabilities."

Once again, the captain nodded, "Unfortunately, the rest of the squad is tied up so I cannot send any support with you. Even so… Natsumi Hanakage!" Captain Soi-fon suddenly said.

Natsumi straightened up. "Captain!"

"I'm ordering you to track down the Ryoka and capture her. Report to no one other than either myself or Head-Captain Yamamoto until the identities of any traitors has been confirmed."

With that Captain Soi-fon spun on her heel and made her way to the door. Pausing at the entrance to look over her shoulder. "One more thing, do not allow yourself to lower your guard again. Nobility politics may have forced that buffoon Omaeda into a position above you, but I will not accept your skills falling to his level. Is that understood?"

Natsumi bowed deeply, "Yes ma'am. It won't happen again."

 

[Hidden One]

*blinks* I could swear that you posted that before and that I did read it before.

 

[darknessfalls]

AN: Guess who forgot to upload the a chapter? Whoops

Click to shrink...

Actually, you did upload it. You just forgot to threadmark it.

 

[Azura]

*blinks* I could swear that you posted that before and that I did read it before.

Click to shrink...

Yep, forgot to threadmark a chapter, checked to see what chapter was missing, uploaded it again, found I had already posted it, started doing things. It was a mess.
This is what happens when I'm tired.

 

[Azura]

Spirit 2.10

Historically speaking, in most conflicts the defending side has an inherent advantage when it comes to indoor fighting. At least in a confrontation between two similarly armed combatants with no specially prepared options.

The attacker can only enter through certain areas, blindspots caused by doors can be exploited,

Kido gave a big middle finger to that advantage.

Up until this moment, I thought the biggest reason most of the surrounding buildings in the Seireitei were as large as they are was due to aesthetics as the 'capital of the afterlife' thing they were going for.

Now that I was stuck in a relatively tiny room with only one exit and an enemy that was possibly capable of filling said room with fire, lighting, and explosions the thought of having a lot of room to avoid those things suddenly really appealed to me.

While I was making plans on how to confront the Soul Reaper in front of me, I was also checking her over. It was only a day since we fought, yet she seemed completely recovered. Her black hair tied behind her in a simple braid, and dark grey eyes darting between myself and the room.

"You look good," I said casually. "But then I guess your medics have gotten a lot of practice recently."

It definitely was not a good idea to taunt from my position, but finding myself cornered was making me feel a bit more aggressive than I normally would be. And it seems I was expressing that by shoving the fact my group had put dozens of her friends and colleagues into the hospital in her face.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, wrestling with my sudden anxiety until I calmed down some.

Once I opened them again I looked directly at Natsumi's face. She had a placid calm expression, but I could clearly see the anger in her eyes.

"Sorry, that was tasteless of me." I said.

"Indeed," Natsumi replied. "You on the other hand, look a bit scuffed up."

The light jab at my appearance was easily ignored. What she was really fishing for was who I fought and the result of the fight. I wasn't really interested in telling her though, so I kept quiet.

"You seem much less talkative, miss Ryoka." Natsumi continued. "I thought you said you were okay with continuing our chat."

She had a point. I kinda wanted to slip the Soul Reapers some more information, and since the last Soul Reaper I talked to was taking a nap for the next few days this would be the best chance.

I opened my mouth to respond, and snapped it shut as I half turned to look at the wall behind me.

The massive spiritual presence that had been hanging over us suddenly cut out. The sudden absence of it startled me with the feeling of 'emptiness' but that one second was enough to distract me.

Natsumi's hand slashed the air in front of her.

"Bakudo #4: Hainawa."

A golden rope burst out of her fingertips and wound its way around my torso, pinning my right arm at the same time.

"Wha the…" I managed to get out before she yanked on the end of the rope. I was pulled off my feet and out into the air.

The bitch threw me off the side of a cliff!

The rope splintered into light as I severed it with the blade in my left hand. Didn't stop me from falling a few hundred feet into a dense forest, but on the bright side I wasn't tied up anymore. Still falling, so that was an issue, but I also wasn't trapped in a room anymore.

Eh, I'll call it a net positive.

The trees were now pretty close and while flight was on the very long list of spells I wanted, it was also one of the many that required too much computation to do without a device. Even floating was kinda had to pull off, and that was when I wasn't in freefall.

Tiny branches started snapping as I passed through them. I grabbed at some of the thicker ones and used them to bleed off some momentum before managing to kick off the trunk of one of the larger trees and land on a different branch big enough to comfortably stand on. I was brought to all fours from the force of the impact but I wasn't smashed into the forest floor so I couldn't complain.

Natsumi appeared across from me with shunpo, a wide smirk on her face. "I apologize," She said. "I feel like our conversation would be better without whatever surprises you had in your hideout."

"So you threw me off a cliff?"

She shrugged, "If that's all it took to take you out I could simply hand you over to the captain. Since you handled it we can either head back to the squad barracks peacefully or I can drag you there by force if you prefer."

"I'm noticing a distinct lack of actual talking in this conversation." I said dryly as I straightened up.

Natsumi tilted her head and glared at me a little, though the smirk remained in place. "In many cases a fight is simply a conversation by physical means. Also surprisingly enough my Captain doesn't trust the word of an invader that showed up out of nowhere, so surrender and you can present your case. Or don't and I drag you back."

So go into the den of superpowered ghost assassins, or refuse and fight an officer I already easily beat. Well that was a hard choice.

"I think I'll pass on both choices, thanks." I replied.

"Drag you back by force it is." Natsumi said, hints of cheerful malice showing through the calm air she had been projecting. She held her sword out to one side and released it with a quick cry. After a few quick spins of the chain, Natsumi threw the now sickle bladed weapon at me.

I tried hacking at the chain to get the whole thing tangled up in some of the branches surrounding us, but while I was able to deflect her weapon the chain squirmed like a living thing and actually nicked me on the way back to her hands. It wasn't much, just a small cut that barely broke the skin on my shoulder, but that it hit me at all was surprising.

This far away my short swords didn't do me much good so I threw both of them at the Soul Reaper while tracing a bow. It didn't do much as they were blown out of the air by dual blasts of blue fire. I growled in frustration while firing an explosive arrow, trying to retake the initiative in the fight.

She managed to block the arrow itself, but couldn't do much about the resulting explosion as she was blown back by the force. A cloud of smoke obscured her from my view as I prepared another arrow. Instead of moving closer like I expected Natsumi fell back a bit, holding her sickle in one hand while the other yanked on the chain that disappeared somewhere in the forest.

I drew the string back and took aim, just in time for a whip to slam into my back with the force of a runaway car knocking me forward.

I bit of a curse and brought my bow up just in time to stop Natsumi from slashing into my side and locked the two weapons together as she landed higher up on the tree I was standing on. With a quick flip Natsumi used my arm as a springboard to send a kick at my head. I let my bow disperse and used my left arm to block the attack. Even with that I was sent skidding down the tree a few feet, though I was able to see that the whip from earlier was actually the other end of the chain on Natsumi's weapon. She must have used the trees to hide it getting behind me and attack me from behind.

Clever. Annoying, but clever.

Kansho and Bakuya once again appeared in my hands as I used Haste to close the distance between us. Rather than clash with me Natsumi began retreating, throwing her weapon at me again and again while I was forced to duck around her blade or deflect it. More small cuts appeared on my arms and legs from where the chain reacted unnaturally when she reeled it in.

Suddenly a white hot lance of pain erupted from my left hip as I missed a block and the sickle bit deep into my side. This time I didn't suppress the stream of curses as blood welled out of the cut. I hissed as I placed a hand over it while I stared at Natsumi.

"What's the matter miss Ryoka? Confused about how this is going differently than you expected?" Natsumi taunted from a little way off. She was also apparently reading my mind.

"You see, unlike most squads in the Gotei 13, Squad 2 rarely specialises in straight forward fights. Unlike last time, I know how you fight, can use the environment against you, and am not tied down by teammates who ran off to be morons." She continued smugly, though I noted there was some real anger when she talked about the two she was with last time.

An ugly thought crept into my mind as I glared at the Third Seat Officer that was so far the most powerful enemy I faced this entire time.

"You're one of those under-ranked officers aren't you?" I accusingly hissed at her.

Natsumi tilted her head, frowning. "Under-ranked?"

"Yeah, like the third and fifth from Squad 11. They would be could be higher ranked if they were in another squad but stayed for whatever reason."

Natsumi's eyebrows raised, "You know about that? Interesting. But yes, you could say I'm in a somewhat similar position to them."

Great, a non-cannon officer that was worth a damn. I knew they probably existed but I was hoping to avoid them until after this mess was taken care of.

During the whole conversation I had turned my injured side away from Natsumi's view, trying to use a healing spell to slow the bleeding. I think it worked, but like most of my healing spells it would take too long to actually heal and was more of a patch job.

"Guess I can't play around anymore can I?" My hand dropped away from my side. A sword fell into my hand, hidden by the rest of my body from Natsumi.

Even if she couldn't see me trace the sword, Natsumi obviously saw my hand shift. "Is that so? Does that mean you will be using that gun again?" Her lips curled into a small sneer, "Don't think you can catch me off guard like that again."

I started just a little, "You know what a gun is?"

Natsumi sighed, her shoulders slumping down as a look of exasperation appeared on her face. "Why does everyone assume Shinigami have no idea about modern weaponry? We do transport souls of soldiers along with everyone else, you know?"

"I guess its a common question?"

"Every few years we get some teenager who died in an accident and finds themselves in the poorer districts. For whatever reason they think recreating guns will put them on top of the pecking order. Then they meet someone who has too much Reiatsu to be hurt by a normal piece of metal and get killed."

I… I didn't know how to respond to that.

"R-right, no, I know it won't work on you now." I stuttered. "But I have other tricks up my sleeves." My eyes hardened and I whipped the sword forward, a crimson fireball racing up the blade and straight toward the shocked Soul Reaper.

Natsumi dodged a direct hit, but the resulting explosion kicks up a thick smokescreen. With a flick of my wrist I trace another weapon and throw it off to the side and rush her. My left arm came down in a powerful chop but Natsumi caught the copied Tobiume in the chains of her weapon. I pressed down on her making her scowl while I smirked in return.

"Surprise!"

 

[Azura]

Spirit 2.11

The chain strained under the weight of my copied sword. The links groaning lightly as I added more pressure. Natsumi growled at me as her eyes jumped between the blade and my face, making sure that the sword really was the same one she thought it was but taking care to be on guard in case I tried something.

"How do you have that sword." She demanded as I pushed the blade another inch forward. Her arms began to tremble slightly but she held my sword back just the same.

"Well, that one Liuetenant kept throwing fireballs at me. So I decided I wanted one of my own." I replied. "Yours looked fun too."

I held up the weapon in my right hand, surprisingly Natsumi hadn't noticed how similar it was to her own until now. Her eyes widen as recognition hits her.

"How is th- "

A black chain burst out of the surrounding branches and coiled around Natsumi's leg. I gave a harsh tug on my end that pulled her leg out from under her. With her balance destroyed, she was unable to prevent the copy of Tobiume from continuing forward, biting deep into her right shoulder. Natsumi recovered quickly as she fell away from my sword. Despite the probably incredibly painful wound in her shoulder, she snapped up her hand and with a now familiar cry caused a fireball to rush towards my face.

Shakkahō!

The crimson orb didn't have far to travel so I was only just able to cover my face before I was engulfed in the explosion. I flashed mana through my body, reinforcing it as much as I could to lower the damage dealt. While the heat and force vanished in a painful instant, smoke surrounded my upper body in a thick haze blocking everything from view.

I hastily jumped back, swishing my hands through the smoke to clear my vision. As I did, I noticed that I had lost focus trying to resist the fireball and both my weapons had broken as a result. Tobiume had snapped roughly in half while Kusarihebi was reduced to just the handle, both the sickle blade and chain having been destroyed. With barely a thought I dismissed the broken blades.

Landing on a different branch I quickly traced my twin swords again and looked around for Natsumi. I didn't see her but I did spot her own chain whipping towards me. Dodging was impossible so I merely brought both blades up in preparation to block.

Natsumi clearly had other ideas. There was another flash of red light from a different direction and I suddenly found the branch I was on disconnected from the main trunk. Just in time for the chain to slam into me.

Unable to brace against anything I was swatted out of the air and sent crashing through some of the smaller branches before cratering on the forest floor. I wasn't really injured by either the attack or the crash, even if they did hurt, but the sudden flight had left me disoriented and Natsumi was now thoroughly hidden in the trees.

Shit, that isn't good.

I slowly made my way back to my feet, eyes darting to every twitching branch expecting to see another attack. Ready to react to anything I saw coming my way.

Nothing.

"Are we playing hide-n-seek now?" I called out.

Natsumi's voice echoed out of the surroundings. I wasn't sure if it was just the forest or if she did something but I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

"Apologies Ryoka, but the time for games passed when we found a Captain assassinated earlier today. Now I will simply do my duty, capture you, and find out everything you know about Captain Aizen's death."

Okay, looks like they found Aizen's fake body. That was good and bad for me. Good because Aizen hadn't changed the broad strokes of his plan even with my interference and that the Soul Reapers would definitely have to pay attention to my traitor warning. Well provided anyone other than Natsumi and Soifon knew I had warned them. Bad because Central 46 was certainly dead now and Aizen was running the government.

"So I proved you had a traitor and you still want to fight me? Why not work with me rather than fight?" I asked.

"Because we do not have any proof it wasn't your group anyway." I turned in a circle, slowly making my way back to the treeline. "You told us a Captain was a target. You've said nothing to convince me that it wasn't your group trying to shift the blame to in internal issue, it wouldn't be the first time someone tried that." I jumped back towards the center of the clearing as a blue flash exploded in front of me. Just to duck as the weighted end of a chain slashed through the air where my chest had been a second earlier.

I slashed at the chain as it passed over my head and pinned it to the ground using both blades to catch the chain in an 'X' and stabbing it as far into the ground as I could. Once that was done I followed the chain with a Haste. Only to stop when I saw it twist into the trees and out of sight.

Wasn't going to walk into that trap.

Still no reason not to punish her leaving her weapon vulnerable. A quick trace later I had a sai in my hand and stabbed it deep into the tree, pinning the chain to the wood.

"That won't work"

The only warning I had was the slight sound of feet kicking off bark somewhere above my head. I turned quickly to see Natsumi appear out of a sudden Shunpo and raised the rapier that appeared in my hands to ward off the sudden attack.

I turned away the first slash of her sickle but the following kick landed on my wounded hip, causing me to wince in pain. Natsumi took advantage of the opening, ducking under a retaliatory slash and swiping upwards.

Pain erupted on my right arm before I lost all sensation below my elbow. A quick glance confirmed despite the freely bleeding wound I still had my arm, but she must have severed the nerves or something since I couldn't move it at all. Unwilling to let her get a second attack in, I tried to ward her off while falling further back.

In a spray of splinters, the previously pinned chain whipped around Natsumi to defend against the attack. The tough metal was barely scratched by the enchanted blade but it was enough for me to deter her from following after me for a second.

The two of us eyed each other warily. Neither one willing to make a move just yet.

Natsumi was the first to break the silence.

"I just cannot seem to make sense of you." she said. "You have excellent combat skills and body control. In fact I think you would be a match for a captain in some places. Yet at the same time, -" she vanished with a shunpo.

I glanced up to see her hanging midair chanting under her breath. Too far away to hear what she was saying, the first hint of what she was doing was when fist sized balls of fire started raining down in front of me.

I blanched at the sheer amount of fire raining down and turned to escape with a quick hast- Natsumi had shifted the fire directly in front of where I was facing. I turned in the opposite direction, only for the fire to rain down there too.

Then I was out of time and the majority of the fire swept over me and… didn't really hurt? Hundreds of the tiny balls of fire hit me, but they felt like firecrackers. Sure they stung a bit but even thousands of these wouldn't do much more than maybe give me a light burn.

Natsumi appeared behind me with another Shunpo, but this time I reacted faster and she was forced to block my rapier. The heavy blow lifted the smaller woman off her feet and threw her skidding back over the grassy clearing.

"- your movement skills are far below par." Natsumi continued, as if the whole exchange never happened. "It's obvious you don't use Hohō. Some kind of derivative. Yet the Shunpo equivalent is inferior. You can only move forward with that technique, can't you?" It didn't seem like my input was needed since she continued almost immediately anyway. "Thought as much. Then I will just need to disable a leg now and your defeat is certain."

"You think it will be that easy?" I asked. "Even if you can move faster, I think I'm keeping up alright."

Natsumi's eyes widened as a line of blood burst from a straight cut going from shoulder to shoulder across her chest. It was clear she had no idea how I did it, and I wasn't going to tell her.

'Still, glad the wind-cutter enchantment on the rapier worked. Would have been awkward if I messed up the timing there.'

Other thoughts raced through my mind as well. Natsumi was far more mobile than I was with just the basic shunpo technique. She was able to bleed me slowly with hit-and-run tactics and if I didn't change something soon I might not be able to get away even if I beat her.

I needed a quick way to take her down without getting myself killed so I either needed to cripple her own mobility or find a way to knock her uncon-, 'that could work'.

The rapier burst into light and my hand went behind my back as I tried to get everything in place with one hand. It was doable, but difficult. I would need a sec before everything was ready.

Best way to buy time? Get the enemy talking.

Good thing that was pretty easy here.

"Nothing to say to that Natsumi? Why the sudden silent treatment?"

She scowled at me, "I don't suppose you've noticed, Ryoka. You are more injured than I am. Even if you are stronger with a blade, all I need to do is wait and eventually you will fall. How well do you think you can defend with an arm in that condition?"

Just a little more…

"I think I'll be fine. You're also feeling the strain, aren't you? That last Kido was impressive, but it had no force behind it. You probably can't repeat it if you had to either. I think if it comes down to stamina I'm better off than you."

"That may be the case Ryoka, but I merely need to hinder you and signal for reinforcements. You are required to win our fight. I can settle for a draw if need be."

Finished.

"I don't think I need to win. Honestly I'm just going to run away the first chance I get."

"And that's why you need to be a little less mobile." She replied before kicking off the ground and charging towards me. I wanted to fall back and give myself more time to work with but I felt something coil around my leg and realized Natsumi was buying time as well.

Too bad for her my plan worked just fine even if I couldn't move.

I pulled one of my last spell pistols and fired. The soul reaper must have been expecting the move since she ducked lower allowing the golden beam to pass harmlessly over her head. The pistol was useless now, the matrix would have overheated and warped from the mana flowing through it, but Natsumi wouldn't know that. I adjusted my aim like I was going to take a second shot, and felt her weapon unwrap form my leg and smack into my wrist forcing my arm off to the side.

I let it and felt the spell pistol fly out of my hand into the surrounding woods. Natsumi was now too close to avoid. Instead of trying to retreat, I projected a shortsword and using my right hand brought it straight down in a vertical chop.

Natsumi automatically responded to the incoming attack by sweeping her sickle upwards, easily tearing the blade from my still nerveless fingers. By the way her eyes widened she also realised her mistake but was unable to do anything about being baited as my left hand slammed into her torso.

'I win.'

Natsumi was sent tumbling off in one direction. I sighed in relief as everything worked out, only to collapse when my right leg suddenly gave out. Dammit, Natsumi got another hit in even with the feint.

"He he he"

The sound of laughter snapped my attention back to the Soul Reaper. Natsumi had gotten back to her feet, clutching her right side. With a sharp jerk she pulled something out of her torso and held it up to her face.

"A punch dagger?" Natsumi asked. "You tricked me into thinking you regained the use of your arm and the best you could do with that opening was a punch dagger?" She shook her head. "No matter, with your leg in that condition you can no longer escape before someone else shows up. I don't even need to fight you anymore, simply watching from the sur- huh?"

Natsumi took a shaky step forward and immediately collapsed to her hands and knees. All strength fleeing from her.

"What's wrong Natsumi?" I smirked "Feeling a bit weak?"

"W-what did y-you do?" She was glaring at me but considering she looked like a gentle wind would knock her over at this point really lessened the impact.

"Hollow dagger filled with this." I replied, holding up a near empty vial of green liquid. "Swiped some off a squad four member and figured out some uses for it. It was an interesting conversation."

The vial was something I swiped off Hanataro while we were treating Ichigo after his duel with Renji. I vaguely remembered it being something that acted as a fast-acting tranquilizer for people with low Reiatsu. When I asked him more about he told me it eventually worked for stronger people but you would need a huge amount to get past the natural barrier anyone with high Reiatsu had. Even then it tended to just reduce body control not actually knock the person out.

I pointed out that you could just inject it or coat a weapon with it to get past that if need be, but apparently the liquid evaporated rapidly outside of the sealed containers they were stored in and apparently poison was not something Soul Reapers used outside of Zanpakuto abilities.

That I was able to actually inject enough to make a difference was due to a much larger amount of luck than I would have liked, but it had worked.

Natsumi's face was a picture of shock. "Shinten? H-how did you-"

"-stop it from evaporating while in the dagger?" I interrupted, "Easy, while we both were talking I was filling the blade. It wasn't out of the container for more than a few seconds. You were just unlucky."

"D-damn, guess it's a draw then. I can't continue, and you aren't going anywhere on that leg." Natsumi complained. "So now what."

"Now I heal up and get on with my day." I scoffed. I limped to the closest tree I could and sat down leaning my back on the trunk. Almost immediately after that a yellow circle appeared in my left hand as I began to heal the various wounds I had.

"You k-know Kaidō. O-of course you know Kaidō. Dammit." Natsumi said bitterly. Then she slumped to her side, unconscious I assume.

Some time later, I had patched myself up enough I was confident I could make it to the cave Yoruichi had gone without being completely helpless or collapsing on the way. I was also nice enough to fix Natsumi up so she wouldn't bleed out in the forest. Now I was almost at my destination and was really looking forward to a nap.

I was making my way down a stupidly long ladder when my arm gave out again. While I had managed to restore some feeling to it, I definitely was not fully healed and that was ignoring the several other injuries I had.

Luckily I was near the bottom of the ladder when I fell off, maybe only a few feet, so I wasn't further hurt by the fall.

I was also content just to lay in a heap on the ground.

Eventually two feet entered my vision and I heard Yoruichi's voice.

"What the hell happened to you?!"

 

[saveralter]

"oh you know...…. this and that"

but seriously can you make it a little bit longer?

 

[Googlemancer]

"I'm going to be completely honest with you, the game of Competitive Super Mario may have gotten a bit rough..."

 

[SpiralRoot]

"I didn't want to be left out of the 'Grudge Match Before Friendship Club', sorry it took a little bit longer than I would've liked."

 

[Azura]

Spirit 2.12

"What the hell happened to you?!"

I glared up at the werecat. Yoruichi managed to look simultaneously concerned and amused about my condition. "Oh I don't know. Maybe it was the Soul Reaper that showed up and had me trapped in that stupid storage room? Y'know the one you told me to 'have fun with'? Ring any bells?"

Yoruichi looked shocked. "The second squad lieutenant managed to push you that far? Huh, we really underestimated him in that case. All of our info said he was a near-useless fighter."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused. "It was the third seat of squad two not the Lieutenant."

Now it was Yoruichi that looked confused. "The third seat?" She said, then got a pensive look on her face. "That makes more sense I suppose. If her Lieutenant was as worthless as we heard Soifon would have definitely made sure that the third seat was capable of being her actual second in command."

"That's great, your girlfriend has a competent subordinate. You couldn't have made sure who it was before I nearly got my ass kicked?"

"Well I, uh, actually don't know who the officers in squad two are anymore." Yoruichi confessed, scratching her cheek and looking off to one side.

I shifted so I was at least sitting down rather than crumpled at the base of the ladder. "Wait, you don't know who the officers of your old squad are? I know Kisuke said you guys were kicked out around a hundred years ago, but isn't that kinda a short time for you guys?"

"And how do you know I used to be in squad two?" Yoruichi asked.

"Kisuke leaves things out. Did you know he has a diary?"

She rolled her eyes, "Of course you found one of those. Moron needs to stop leaving personal information laying around." she muttered.

She walked over to me and reached out a hand, "A hundred years is a hundred years. Even if our lifespans are much longer than living people, it's still a long time. Now come on, we can talk more when you get fixed up."

I took her hand and allowed her to pull me to my feet. I'd like to say I didn't need the help, but even after Yoruichi helped me up I still needed her help to limp further into the underground cavern.

Overall it was incredibly similar to the underground training room under Urahara's shop. Large rock outcroppings littered the space, sparse vegetation grew randomly, and the roof was artificially illuminated by some unknown source. Probably some sort of Kido now that I thought about it.

Honestly there wasn't much more to say about the place. It was large, looked like a rocky wasteland, and if it wasn't covered in swords there was nothing of interest in the whole place.

Speaking of swords, the place was COVERED in swords. The show really didn't do this part justice with the sheer amount of blades stabbed into the earth. Though there were some dust clouds being kicked up every now and then.

Looking closer I spotted Ichigo fighting a middle-aged man with glasses in a dark cloak. The two of them didn't seem to notice me or Yoruichi at all. Which was fine. I was at my limits anyway. Talking to people wasn't very high on my things to do list right now.

"So Ichigo's training then? And I suppose that's his Zanpakuto spirit since he is the one running around with Zangetsu?" I asked as Ichigo's blade shattered into fragments. Impressively, the teen got right back up, grabbed another blade, and continued fighting.

"Yeah, if we want him to have any sort of chance against another Captain, he will need to master Bankai." said Yoruichi. "We are out of time and the only chance we have left is the execution itself."

She started steering me to one area of the cavern while I gave her a look. "Out of time? Kisuke never mentioned a time limit other than the actual execution, something I should know?"

"Not an actual time limit." She said waving me off. "But by now we lost the element of surprise. The Gotei will start organizing by now so rushing in will just leave us facing more and more opponents. Oh watch out."

We both stopped as Ichigo crashed into the ground directly in front of us, another broken blade in his hand. Zangetsu dove down on top of him cratering the ground with his blade when Ichigo rolled away.

I covered my face as we were sprayed with dirt and shards of stone while the two of them bounded off to continue their duel.

"Was that really necessary?"

Yoruichi just laughed, "I doubt it was on purpose. Let's go. It's right over here."

A bit further off was a natural hot spring. Or at least it looked natural. Considering this place was apparently made by Yoruichi and her friends at some point I wasn't too sure just what was natural and what would have been added later.

"Here, this spring should help heal your injuries."

"This looks really nice actually. Any chance you have a tow- aah!"

There was a strong shove from behind and I briefly found myself upside down looking at a smirking Yoruichi before I was underwater.

I exploded to the surface coughing and spluttering. I tried to glare at the stupid cat but the effect was entirely ruined by me angrily brushing hair and water out of my eyes.

"What the hell was that for!"

"The girlfriend comment!" Yoruichi laughed. I noticed she had managed to strip the pouches and pistols off my outfit and placed them in a pile by the edge of the spring. "Have fun with the bath, I'm going to go supervise Ichigo."

I splashed some water at her but she was gone in a shunpo long before the water got close.

Even so, I couldn't help the smile on my face from her antics. It was pretty funny.

Of course now I needed to plan my revenge. Couldn't let the cat think she got away with this.

A minute of concentration later and I had managed to shift my clothes into a large white bath towel. While I wasn't uncomfortable being naked in a bath, I wasn't about to give anyone a free show.

Moving over to the edge of the spring myself, I relaxed into the water and closed my eyes. I could feel my cuts and injuries closing while the tension bled out of my muscles.

Today was exhausting. I think I'm just going to soak for a minute.

-o-​

A loud splash startled me out of my nap.

That I actually fell asleep was a bit startling but not very surprising. I was tired. It was actually more impressive I hadn't accidentally drowned myself while I was asleep. Still, seeing another person in the water had me fully awake now.

Ichigo had apparently decided to enjoy the hot spring and going by how he was acting hadn't noticed I had been in the spring as well.

He was splashing around like an idiot yelling about how awesome it was that his injuries were healing. I might have been more forgiving about his excitement normally. But he woke me up!

So rather than give him any sort of warning about what was about to happen, I just adjusted so I was comfortable and got ready for a show.

Ichigo was still playing around in the water, having filled his mouth with the stuff, when Yoruichi made her way behind him.

"Hey Ichigo! How's the water?"

"Mururiri-ran?Omph mirmph mraa! Mro mram ma mram." I had no idea what he said but it sounded pretty positive.

Yoruichi though, apparently had no issues understanding him. "Oh? That's good. Then I guess I'll take a bath too." and started stripping.

Ichigo pulled off a truly impressive spit-take and started panicking. It was incredibly entertaining watching him bounce between coughing, glancing at Yoruichi, and hiding his face practically all at the same time.

"I-idiot! What are you saying?! Why the hell are you taking off your pants?!"

Yoruichi caught me looking over at them and gave me a wink before going back to provoking Ichigo. "Heheh it's not that big a deal, loosen up! Don't be so old fashioned."

"S-stop making fun of me!" Ichigo weakly protested before shouting. "No, wait! Don't come over here, stop!"

"Heh who would have thought you would be so innocent." Yoruichi teased.

"Don't mess with me!"

My hand was over my mouth, trying desperately to keep myself from laughing. Yoruichi had slipped free of the last of her clothing and Ichigo had his hands over his eyes.

The werecat sent another look at me, clearly trying to not laugh herself, before shifting into her feline form and slipping into the water.

"I don't know what you're so worked up about." She said in her now much more masculine voice. Her tail twitched back and forth while she swam lazy circles in front of Ichigo.

My shoulders were shaking with the effort not needed to laugh.

"Eh?" Ichigo replied dumbly. He slowly peeked through his fingers before dropping his hands entirely and just staring at the cat.

"What?" asked Yoruichi smugly. "Are you a little disappointed? You are, aren't you. You little pervert."

Any hints embarrassment vanished from Ichigo and were replaced by an enraged snarl.

"I am going to drown you." He threatened.

That was the last straw. I tried to muffle it but soon I was nearly howling with laughter.

Ichigo damn near jumped out of the water from the unexpected sound which only set me off again.

"Alexandria?! When did you get here?"

"She was here for the past few hours Ichigo. Did you seriously not notice her when you came over?"

"I-I was distracted by the hot spring even being here! It's not like you expect to find something like this in a cave anyway!"

While the two of them bickered, I eventually managed to get my laughter under control.

"Whoo I needed that. Thanks for the comedy show you two." I said.

Ichigo refused to look directly at me, but turned somewhat in my direction. "Uh hmm, if uh, if you want me to come back in a bit I could leave?"

Well that was considerate of him. Jeez Yoruichi was right, he really is innocent.

"Nah, I've been in for awhile. Enjoy the water." I said, "Oh, Yoruichi? When you're done can you come find me? I have a few questions you might be able to help with."

"Of course."

I quickly left the water and made my way over to where Yoruichi had left my stuff when I felt a sudden sharp pain in my chest. It felt like shards of glass were shifting all around inside and then just as fast as I felt it, it vanished.

One hand rose and lightly rested on my collarbone, but nothing else felt wrong.

Odd.

Yoruichi noticed the odd movements though.
"Alexandria are you alright?" She asked, which naturally drew Ichigo's attention.

I just waved her off and gathered up my things.

"It was nothing, probably just spent too much time in the spring." I replied as I walked off to find a place to work. I had limited time before the finale and I needed to make the most of it now.

Besides, it was probably nothing… right?

-o-​

I think my favorite thing about the weird barrier jacket I had going on, and I probably should come up with a better name for it, was that changing clothes was super easy. Yes, it still took a while to do specific clothing but the default Archer uniform took seconds and was perfectly clean every time.

Between that and the healing effects of the spring it felt like I was completely recovered from all the fights I had gotten in.

It was an incredible feeling not to have to compensate for injuries anymore. And so to celebrate I was sprawled out one one of the larger flat rocks in the area, enjoying the feeling of not needing to keep up my guard while I went over several notes I had taken when developing my Haste spell.

Even in the short time I had been going over it, I had found several places where slight improvements could be implemented just by looking at the spell code. The original version was good for what I had in mind, but even with my inherited skills I was only now starting to understand exactly what was needed for real combat now that I had been in some outside of a spar.

I was working on changing the spell from forward acceleration into a more general speed increase when I noticed Ichigo and Yoruichi making their way over.

Both of them looked clean having come out of the hotspring, but Ichigo seemed like he was determined to do something. He was making a beeline right for me with a serious look on his face.

Yoruichi was following behind him back in her human form at a fairly sedate pace looking much more relaxed, so I hope it's nothing super urgent. Any new issues would just take away from what little time I had left to improve my spell.

"Hey guys, how was the water?" I asked when they were close enough.

"It was nice. A relaxing bath was exactly what I needed after running around taking care of this idiot." Yoruichi replied. "We were just about to get back to his Bankai training but he wanted to ask you some things."

"Okay? What's up?"

Ichigo looked between the two of us before taking a deep breath.

"Alex, who exactly are you?"

Well, wasn't this interesting. Ichigo and I hadn't really talked much. I was usually either busy working on a project or doing something for Urahara when Ichigo was running around Karakura so I hadn't introduced myself, and the little training match after he recovered his powers was the only other time I really saw him before we left.

Even after we arrived, Ichigo had preferred to run off and do his own thing rather than talk to me. Not that I really made any attempt myself. In fact I might have been worse since I had run off several times myself to do something and barely let any of Ichigo's friends know what I was doing.

I decided that this conversation was likely meant I wouldn't be able to pay attention to my spell work, so I put down my notes and shifted so I was sitting cross-legged on the stone.

"Um, what exactly are you looking for here?" I asked, "Cause I don't think either one of us has time for long stories."

Not that I would tell him the full story anyway. I still hadn't told Urahara and Yoruichi about where I came from. The fact they had a somewhat accurate guess worked in my favor, and I wasn't going to correct them anytime soon.

"You're right. But I kinda just want to know more about you guys." Ichigo said rubbing the back of his head. "It's just I kinda realized how little we know about everyone from Urahara's shop. I mean I'm really glad you guys are helping us out but I don't really know why."

"And I'm guessing Yoruichi didn't want to talk for some reason" I said looking over at the woman.

She shrugged. "I mentioned some things about myself and Kisuke, but we've known each other for a long time. I'm fine talking about him because I know what he doesn't mind being shared out. You and I aren't like that." She started scratching at her cheek while avoiding looking directly at me. "And I don't want to say the wrong thing."

Ah, she was probably thinking about our conversation before we broke into the Seireitei. I had pretty much forgotten it, but I felt oddly touched Yoruichi took my feelings into account.
"Fair enough." I said, "So you told him you and Urahara were captains, anything else?"

Ichigo was looking between the two of us but my comment made his head snap to Yoruichi. "Wait, you were a captain too?!"

"Yeah, I was the captain of squad two. It's not a big deal." Yoruichi said, giving me a dry look. "And no, no I did not tell him about that."

I winced at that "Sorry."

She just waved me off, "It's not like it was a secret. And it would have come up anyway, so there's no harm in him knowing."

"How about I just stick to myself then." I said, "Though there really isn't much to say. I came to Karakura a little over a year ago. During the first few days I was there, I was attacked by a hollow and Urahara was nearby. I managed to kill it, but got pretty hurt in the process. Urahara offered me a place to stay and once I healed up I started working for him to pay him back."

"Yeah, definitely wasn't because you were bored." Yoruichi scoffed.

I glared half-heartedly at her. "Come on, let me at least sound good."

"So you aren't a shinigami then?" Ichigo asked.

I shook my head, "Nope. Pretty sure I'm unique as far as my abilities go. I can kinda copy a lot of what I see other people do but for most of it I need to work out the how by myself. For example-" I held up some of the notes laying around me, "-I need to do all this to figure out how to do my own version of the Flash Step. What I use right now isn't working out like I need."

I saw Ichigo's eyes glaze over looking over pages of notes and spell equations. I knew he was pretty far from stupid but this stuff gave me headaches and I had the entire theory and knowledge how to do this grafted onto my soul. Honestly without the literal archive of knowledge I had available to me it was likely I would never have gotten even this far in a few decades let alone a single year.

Ichigo handed my papers back to me, his eyes still a little glazed over. "Can't you just, ya'know, do it until you get the hang of it? That's how I've learned all my stuff."

"Eh," I shrugged, "I can a little. Practice helps with the stuff I've already come up with if it's just getting better at using that. But if I want to use something new or change the base of a skill, then I need to start with this stuff." I waved a hand at all the papers. "It can be relaxing sometimes. Others not so much."

"As much as I hate to break this up, we really need to get back to training. Let's go, Ichigo." Yoruichi cut in.

He nodded, said his goodbyes, and ran off to keep up his Bankai training.

On that note, I turned back to my own kind of training. Besides a few places I needed to check for errors, I was making good progress on a new version of Haste. Once I got those ironed out I could give it a test to see what I still needed to work on.

I picked up my notes and got started.

"Okay, let's see now…"

 

[SpiralRoot]

Is this the first signs of UBW rejecting our MC due to differences in thought? If so, then Alex is gonna be in for a rough time until she finds a way to alter the reality marble. A new Aria would most likely mitigate the problem even if it changes the end result of the marble's form.

 

[Misdreamer]

It could also be the shattered fragments of the merged souls shifting, as they already did when she entered the Dangai. Whether it's going to be a good or bad change, who knows.