#i hesitate to call this an animation cus its just still frames but. yeah

[clickety-clacker]

Where did you even get that speech bubble, Godpoke.

[lo-55]

Shattered Chains of Fate Ch. 10

Encroaching Shadows

Everything goes haywire, as Ichigo's plans usually go. No plan survives the first blows of battle, but the best warriors are those who adapt.

Still, he didn’t expect Renji to recognize him off the bat and sound the alarm.

The first person to respond is a captain.

Or maybe some kind of wannabe porcupine. Ichigo hasn’t decided yet.

They don’t tag team (lucky for Ichigo, stupid for them), and the end result it Ichigo takes down a lieutenant and a captain in quick succession, with brutal blows and quick footwork.

(Mordred had taught him a thing or two, about fighting against almost-berserkers and countering raw power.

How proud Mo would be, to see Ichigo has his own steadily-increasing abilities now)

Ichigo gets away with a long gash going down his arm and not much else.

It’s really Kenpachi’s fault. He offered Ichigo a free first shot and Zangetsu had rent his flesh and bone beneath Ichigo’s unyielding will.

After that  the rest of the cronies showed up, lead by another lieutenant, and Ichigo ends that fight just as fast. The lieutenant, a blond man with a solemn face, hits the ground before he even gets to unleash his sword. Ichigo is starting to think it’s best to blitz high ranked shinigami before they can use their zanpakuto. It’s the same strategy he’d used in wars. Hit opposing servants before they could use their noble phantasm. They all took at least a few minutes to charge and recover between strikes.

If he can stop them from even using them, it’ll be easier than trying to figure out what each ability is and how to counter them.

Ichigo sits off to the side while Hanataro, a little medic who had been at the back of the group of enemies, tends to the two bleeding figures on the ground.

They’re more pressing than he is, and Ichigo is perfectly capable of stitching his own arm up.

He’s aware of Ganju staring at him, while he chats ideally with fretting little girl with bright pink hair.

She feels like Kenpachi does. Exactly like him, actually, a playful animal with the most lethal of teeth. A predator that sits at his side, shadowed and dangerous and grinning.

Ichigo tries not to think of the chaos that would unfold if Yachiru had been in Chaldeas when the other kids started pouring in. Jack, Alice, and the Lily’s.

Finally, Ganju speaks.

“Ichigo… just who are you?”

Ichigo glances up from his work. “Huh?”

“I don’t get it. You say you’re not a shinigami, but you’ve taken down three of their highest ranked officers with barely a scratch. I could barely stand in the presence of that man, but you didn’t even blink! You switch plans on the fly. I watched you fight and it was like you changed who you were between one and the other. And now you’re stitching yourself without even flinching. Just who are you?!”

Ichigo paused, eying Ganju speculatively. Yoruichi, too, looks interested.

“Ichigo,” she intones, “You called me a ‘familiar’. Were you referring to the animals that partner with human magicians?”

It’s possible that he’s gotten too used to playing it close to the chest, if he’s still hesitating to explain himself. They’re in the land of the dead. They’ve fallen from the sky. What judgement can they render him?

“... yeah,” he says at last. “I’m not very good at it, but I’m a mage. I’m a combat mage for the Chaldea Security Organization.”

Ichigo grimaces.

“Or, I was.”

“Was?” Yoruichi steps lightly towards him.

“Yeah. There was an accident at Chaldea. Sabotage, actually. It blew up. A lot of people died.”

He’d been helpless, helpless,  helpless .

“I started training. I learned how to fight better than before. Chaldea has a magic that makes time pass differently,” he doesn’t say it lets them yeet their soul thousands of years in the past. That’s a little far even for shinigami. “I left when I was fifteen. I was gone for a few weeks. I came back three years later, for me at least. I’m eighteen now.”

Eighteen and the survivor of nearly a dozen wars.

Eighteen and the last of his team.

  Final Master of Humanity, Light in the Darkness, Master of FATE, Archduke of the Roman Empire, Savior, Guardian of the Future.  

He is all of these things.

He is Ichigo Kurosaki, he is eighteen years old and he has seen four thousand years. He will save Rukia. No matter what.

He goes back to stitching up his arm.

Ichigo wishes it was not Yoruichi and Ganju that he’s confessed to. He wishes it was Kyo. His promise(s) sit heavy in his chest.

He cannot die yet. He had promises to keep.

He must find Kyo. He had promises to keep.

Once more, he tastes the bile of indecision and helplessness.

For all his power that he now has, he is so limited by where he is and what he’s doing. He want to rush in. He has the power to cut down those in his way. But his friends have come with him and for their sake he must be a leader, he must be a Master without command seals in his hand. He cannot be reckless with their lives in his hands. They are weaker than he, they are his responsibility. He can’t expect them to keep up and adapt to his crazy plans the way his servants did.

As soon as Rukia is rescued, he tells himself, he will find Kyo. He will find a way to convince him of his crazy story and make him understand everything that’s happened. He’ll tell him everything they didn’t have time to discuss in america, and apologize for the damage he’s surely done to his home with this rescue mission. If Ichigo had managed to get him alone, maybe he would have been able to get Kyo to help him even. He knows he has little love  for this place.

(So why is he a captain?)

Hanataro comes to check his stitches, even though he looks dead on his feet. Yachiru takes Kenpachi away, carrying him like he weighs nothing at all.

*

Ichigo is starting to see an annoying trend. One where he wakes up feeling like he’s been hit by a bus, rolled over on his face, and trampled by a freight train on steroids.

Ichigo stares at what remains of the ceiling of the whitehouse. His chest aches and his head hurts, and there’s someone holding his hand so tightly he thinks it might break.

Ichigo turns his head enough to see Kyo at his side. His brown hair is blown back, limp strands falling across his sharp cheeks. Behind him, back facing Ichigo, was Medusa. Her clothes were torn and her hair lashed out and spit venom with a vengeance.

“What?” his voice warped and reverberated. Ichigo’s brows furrowed and he cleared his throat until he spat out a glob of white and red. Kyo pulls him until he’s sitting up and he shakes his head. Something white falls from his hair and disappears around his shoulders.

“What the fuck happened?” He asks, looking around. There’s a demon god pillar, white and red, with a gaping hole blown straight through one side of it. It leans sideways like a tree ready to topple. Who had done that? Which of his servants was so capable?

“You were stabbed through,” Kyo says, his voice strained and his skin pale. “Your magic went haywire and-”

“Scathach returned,” Cu Chulainn cuts in sharply. He gives Kyo a hard look that Ichigo has never seen on his laid back servant's face while he kneels at his other side. “She didn’t die, she only retreated to the Shadow Lands to recover her strength. When the other me used Gae Bolg on you, she managed some type of magic to stop the damage.” Cu taps his chest and Ichigo looks down. His shirt hangs around his hips and arms in shreds of white. In the center of his chest is a perfect red circle, right above his heart.

He actually touches his throat to double check that his heart was beating. He should be dead. Gae Bolg is all but a one shot kill attack. What had Scathach done to keep him from dying?

“She came back? Where is she? Was she the one that damaged the god pillar?.., wait, where’s the berserker?!” Ichigo’s head swings around, but the other Cu Chulainn is nowhere to be seen.

“We were winning,” his Caster says, “So he offered himself to the grail for Medb’s wish and became a demon god pillar.”

“Oh,” Ichigo stands with a grunt. “Fuck.”

Another look at the God Pillar reveals that the gaping hole has done plenty of damage. He’s almost eighty percent dead by now. It’ll only take a couple more attacks before it falls and they win. He can see the glimmer of the holy grail deep inside its body.

“She said something before she left again,” Kyo adds hastily. Ichigo doesn’t know what’s shaken him so badly, but there’s a gleam of curiosity that borders on manic in his eyes. Ichigo would be worried, if he trusted Kyo less.

“What did she say?” Ichigo asks. The demon rumbles, preparing for attack. Medusa, who is bleeding badly from one shoulder, stands firm with Mash at her side. Rama lay’s on his side several feet away, breathing but bloody, and Nightingale is unconscious but not dead nearer by. Ichigo realizes that Cu’s right arm is pressed close to his chest, clearly broken. What the hell had happened?

“In regards to your heart,” he taps Ichigo’s chest, raising a hiss from him. It’s sensitive, like new flesh beneath peeled skin. “If the day comes that it gives you issue, she said this;  

  Sand and towers, glass and stone. The lady waits for him alone. Ebon glass in emerald frame, cracked white lily speak her name. Blood red bane in dragon's stone. The bone crown waits for him alone.”

Ichigo looks between Kyo and Cu.

“What, and I cannot emphisize this enough, the  fuck does that mean?!”

“It’s a way to find her,” Cu says shortly. Once more, he gives Kyo a sharp look. There’s something more going on, but Ichigo can’t focus on that right now. There’s a secret they don’t have time to unravel. Cu wouldn’t endanger him willingly. So he stands, throwing an arm around Kyo’s shoulders for support, and turns hard eyes to the pillar of power, all white and red crystalline destruction.

“Medusa!” he calls, “Are you okay?” With Nightingale down they don’t have a healer, and Ichigo’s mystic code has been shredded. He can’t heal either.

“I’m fine,” she says shortly, her voice the rattle of chains. “This is just the price I pay for failing my duty.”

“Your duty?” Ichigo frowns.

“I was supposed to protect you. I failed, and now we’re here. I paid for it.”

Ichigo’s frown grows into a scowl. “Don’t you start that shit!”

“Can we argue later?” Mash calls, gripping her shield tightly. “We’re in the middle of a fight.”

Ichigo can’t argue with that. He nods grimly. This is it. “Let’s go.”

* *

Ichigo eyes the door to the senzaikyu curiously. Hanataro has come with them, and he has the key. They haven’t had time to really work it all out, why he wants so badly to help them save her, but Ichigo is not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Very rarely have Ichigo’s instincts lead him wrong, and they tell him Hanataro is help that they will need.

More than that, though, is the feeling of cool petals brushing at the back of his mind. Ichigo breathes in the scent of blossoms and ink,  and tastes a trace of banked fire beneath it.

“Ganju. Hanataro. We’re about to have company. You guys go ahead inside. Get Rukia for me.”

He doesn’t know how this is going to go, exactly, but he tastes someone new on the air.

They taste like a tempest on the horizon, like the storms at sea just before they crashed, when the water was still clear at blue and the  Golden Hind  cut surely through the waves.

Ichigo pulls his wig off and stuffs it into his bag. It would be bad for it to fly off in the middle of a fight, and he’s loathe to let go of his disguise. Even if it doesn’t work that well.

It’s Byakuya who makes the top of the stairs first. Of course it is.

Ichigo grips his Zanpakuto tighter. Zangetsu hums a deep note in his hands, sure and steady. Ichigo is smart enough to be weary. Byakuya beat him once before. He can’t afford to lose to him again. Especially now that he hasn’t got Rukia’s ice to freeze the bladed petals in place.

She was coldness and ice and fierce, stinging power. He was brute force, soaring power,  and stubborn, unbending will.

Ichigo readies his sword. He can hear shouting from inside the senzaikyu. He has no clue what Hanataro and Ganju are doing, he hopes Hanataro hasn’t betrayed them, but he must focus on the task at hand now.

“Byakuya.” There’s nothing but venom in his voice. Ichigo doesn’t hate easily, but Rukia is this mans sister and that he would just let her die makes him sick to his stomach. He rages inside his soul, power cutting along the blade of Zangetsu.

“Ichigo Kurosaki,” Byakuya looks at him with nothing short of the most mild contempt. It drives Ichigo up a wall.

He darts in and swings, hard, aiming to cut Byakuya in two if he has to. Zangetsu sings when he clashes with Byakuya’s sword. The contact sharpens every sense Ichigo has about him. Their power were to different for him to notice before, but now he can hear the hiss of a fiery inclination, tempered behind steel bars.

Byakuya it forced to skid back several steps.

Ichigo grins when he catches sight of the slightest widening of his slate grey eyes.

“Ichigo!”

He barely dares glance behind him.

There’s Rukia, in all her glory. Dressed no longer in her shihakusho, but a plain white kimono. Ichigo can barely feel the soft brush of snow on his skin. It seems to evaporate as soon as it touches his cheeks.

Rukia meets his eyes and her knees give out.

“Rukia!” Ichigo shouts, horrified.

He barely cares that Byakuya uses his distraction to throw him back. He takes the inertia and uses it to skid back, to Hanataro and Ganju’s side. Ganju feels more tumultuous than usual, and Hanataro is still and small, a shadow to the side.

It’s not them he cares about.

“Rukia?!” He repeats, kneeling at her side. What-?

“I was-” her voice is rough and breathless, “I was in the sekiseki stone for too long. My powers are too weak.”

Too weak? She’s being crushed beneath just their aura?

Like Ganju and Kenpachi.

Fuck.

Ichigo looks at her, helpless. This is not the same strong, stubborn girl he’d grown used to. This is not the girl who lent him her sword, pale white and shining with it’s graceful ribbon.

  Wait…  

   “They’re the essence or the soul of my staff. They work a bit like command seals.”

Merlin’s voice echoes in his head.

Ichigo reaches out and grasps the thick wrapping that hangs from Zangetu’s hilt. Like command seals, a manifestation of miracles that bind master and servant. Ichigo poured his energy into the ribbon until it bled a dark red. He bit the edge and tore the red section off. It stung, like ripping off a slice of his own skin.

Ichigo wrapped it around her wrist, and let the age old, familiar feeling of having his power drawn from his body take over. He pushed it into her, using the ribbon as a medium.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Byakuya, faster than Ichigo can blink, is upon them. Sword drawn, Ichigo barely blocks the deadly slice in the air. Even as he holds Byakuya at bay he can feel the draining of his Reiryoku. Admittedly, he barely feels it even while he pushes it into Rukia’s body. It’s nothing like the weight of a goddess’ Noble Phantasm. He’d nearly died in Babylon, not because of laymu or giant axes being thrown through the sky, but because he’d helped a goddess drag stars from the sky to shoot down their enemies.

Rukia gasps, loudly. There’s a flash of light and the blow of red and white energy pops with smoke. It brushes gently, cold against Ichigo’s skin.

Byakuya’s eyes widen in shock. Ichigo uses his distraction to thrust their blades and hit him with a roundhouse kick.

Byakuya is forced backwards. He keeps going, until he’s a fair distance away, and raises his sword. The scent of sakura blossoms and steel grows stronger.

“What’s he gonna do from way back there?” Ganju mutters, but Ichigo already knows. From her expression, so does Rukia. Her white Kimono is gone, but the black shihakusho hasn’t reformed. Instead she’s in a different kimono, still white but this one with a high collar and wide sleeves. There’s a pale green obi around her (far too skinny) middle, and frost has settled across the crown of her dark hair. In her hands, her sword shakes.

“Rukia,” Ichigo says slowly. “I know you didn’t ask me to save you. I know you told me not to. But I’m here. And I can’t save you, and I can’t beat him, unless you help me. I’ll give you all the power you need, but you’re the only one who can stop his zanpakuto. Okay?”

He expects a fight. He expects her to smack him in the head and shout.

Instead she regards him with something between terror and awe and nods, minutely.

Truthfully, Ichigo is certain he can beat Byakuya as he is now. It might be arrogance, but to him it’s the truth. He can see his strength, and they’re on even footing now. The biggest problem is the number of blades he can command. Ichigo doesn’t know how find of control he has over them, but he’s not willing to risk Rukia’s life finding out.

On top of that, Rukia looks so helpless, so downtrodden and resigned. Even if Ichigo saves her here, it will do her no good if she isn’t willing to pick up a sword and fight for her life.

Yoruichi is gone again, he notes with a frown.

“Get ready,” he says grimly.

Byakuya only looks at Ichigo. He refuses to so much as glance at his sister.

  “Scatter. Senbonsakura.”  

Byakuya raises his hand, Rukia raises her sword, and the world turns white.

***

“Do you know where you are?”

The voice is soft and playful. It would be comforting, in any other circumstances. It comes with the overpowering smell of flowers and the spice of life energy that sends him into a sneezing fit.

It takes a few minutes for him to recover long enough to actually peel his eyes open and have a look around. Flowers as far at the eye can see, an ocean of blossoms that meet a pale blue horizon.

“Eh!?” He looks around frantically. “Where am I? What’s going on?”

His gaze freezes on a man with a white hood over his head and weird stick in one hand. “Who are you?!”

“Me?” He the man smiles and tilts his head. His eyes are mostly hidden. “I’m no one important. Or, someone very important but unable to matter until the dream of existence has ended. You understand?”

“...Not even remotely. Where are we?”

“We’re in a dream.” The man sits among the flowers, which ripple like water around him and flow back to cling to his clothes. “It must be because you’ve borrowed ‘That Vessel’ for the time being.”

“Vessel… You mean this body?” he touched his chest, but when he looks down it’s not a hand that he sees. There’a limb, but it’s most incorperal. Nearly transparent. His whole body is, actually. “What the hell?!”

“You should calm down. If you panic too much, the threads of your being might unravel. We don’t want that, now do we?”

“Just who the hell are you?!” He finally points at the stranger. As much as he can point with barely a hand.

“Me? Why, I am Merlin. And who are you?”

Merlin? Had Ichigo ever mentioned someone like that?

“...I’m Kon,” he says finally. “What kind of dream is this? And why are you in it?”

“Oh well. I was trying to get ahold of someone else, but you popped in instead. Maybe you can help me to help him. You’re Ichigo’s friend aren’t you, the artificial soul?”

“How did you know that?” Kon gaped at him.

“Ichigo’s told me all about his adventures. I sent him something to help him along a while ago, but I believe he forgot it in all the excitement of rescuing the Rukia girl. You want to help Ichigo don’t you? Make him less prone to melancholy?”

Merlin was right. Ichigo was kind of a downer some times. Still, how could a dream fix that? And how could this guy send things from a dream into the real world?

“I guess… What did you have in mind?

The smile returned to the strangers mouth.

“I decided. A reunion with a friend would suite him well. Won’t you help me, Kon?”

How is he supposed to say no to that?

“Alright. Why not. What’s the worst that could happen?”

****

Ichigo eyes the massive waves of ice that covers not only Byakuya’s tide of cherry blossomed steel, but also the man himself, the entire bridge, the building behind it, and a good fifty feet of the sky beyond even that.

He blinks. Once. Twice. Thrice.

“I think we overdid it,” he muses, running his fingers through his hair.

“Holy shit,” Ganju says eloquently.

“I-I had no idea Miss Rukia was so powerful…” Hanataro breathes in utter awe.

“I’m not,” Rukia tells him, even as she herself stares at the new glacier with no small amount of fly-catching. “Ichigo, what did you do?!”

“Huh?” he rolls his shoulder to peer down at her. “I lent you my energy, duh. You’re the one that took it and ran with it. This is your full capability right now. Don’t celebrate yet. There’s a storm coming.”

“A storm…?”

Ichigo can feel it better now. Lightning along his skin, water in his hair, the wind pulling at his soul. There’s a shadow not far behind it. A laugh on the wind and too-sweet sake.

He turns, the others follow him a second later, just in time to a blur of white come to a halt. Slung over one shoulder is Byakuya Kuchiki, who is less frozen than Ichigo had hoped. Damn.

The man who holds him looks rather frail. His cheeks are thin, and there’s a hollowness under his eyes. It’s hair is stark white, and his eyes are deep sea-green.

Ichigo isn’t fooled by the gentle smile. It’s not false, really, but it hides something dangerous. Ichigo thinks once more of the ocean. Thinks of Francis. Bright and laidback but more dangerous than any hurricane. A woman who punched the sea god himself in the face and stole his holy grail.

This man is no francis drake, no pirate, but the feeling of a current about to sweep him away is there all the same. This is not a man to take lightly.

“C-Captain Ukitake!”

Rukia’s captain. Ichigo can see a gentleness in the way he smiles at her, even if he is puzzled.

“Rukia! How are you? You look thinner. Just what happened?” He asks one quick succession.

Ichigo nearly growls at him, a beast of protectiveness stirring. His instincts tell him to be weary, this man is strong, but the need to protect Rukia rings truer.

Like a dragon set to guard a castle, Ichigo wants to wrap his arm around her middle and launch himself into the air and away.

He can’t.

He didn’t even  see  this captain  move . There is no way they can escape. And, Ichigo isn’t so sure he can beat this storm in human skin.

He grips his sword tighter anyhow. Now the storm, Ukitake, stands between them and Ganju and Hanataro. They’re weaker. All he need do is turn around and-

“Rukia,” Ukitake’s eyes are on him now, wide, his mouth stretched and his throat suddenly tense. “Who is this?”

Ichigo narrows his eyes minutely.

“I’m Ichigo Kurosaki,” he says shortly, honestly. Why bother lying? Rukia’s time with him has proven that shinigami suck at navigating the living world. And once he dies, no one will ever find him.

Ichigo hears the hiss first. He doesn’t dare take his eyes off Ukitake even when Rukia twists around and gasps. It takes him a second to realize that the petals of senbonzakura are coalescing back into its original shape, fluttering past the pair of them without doing any damage at all.

Does Byakuya even want to hurt Rukia? Or is he just too cowardly to stand up for his sister?

Ichigo doesn’t care.

Byakuya struggles as dignified as he can until Ukitake sets him down on the ground again. One of his legs is covered in ice, and the skin revealed from a shattered pant leg is red and ugly. So Rukia had caught his leg.

Too bad Byakuya is a long range fighter.

He brings his sword up and drops it into the ground. Ichigo’s mouth opens when it sinks with a ripple into the earth.

“Kuchiki,” Ukitake frowns. “Surely you’re going overboard with this.”

“This does not concern you,” Byakuya says firmly. His gunmetal grey eyes are locked on Ichigo. “Rukia is my sister. I will execute her myself if I must.  Bankai . “

“Ban-huh?” Ichigo’s brows furrow. All around them, massive swords rise from rippling air. One by one that shatter and twist into those pink blossoms. It would be beautiful and poetic, if Byakuya wasn’t trying to kill him.

Joy.

Idly, while the flowers swirl around them in a deadly dance, Ichigo says,

“ Cherry blossoms scatter

  Snap, the buck’s antlers  

  Come off  

  Without regret  

  They fall and scatter  

  Cherry blossoms.”  

“That’s a very nice poem,” Rukia says dryly, “But it doesn’t stop us about to die!”

Ichigo may have spent too much time with Murasaki Shikibu. “Why are you yelling at me?! Stop them again!”

“I can’t stop my brother’s Bankai!” she shouted, looking at him like he was insane. Ichigo rolled his eyes at her.

“Have you tried?”

“No but-”

“No buts!” Ichigo smacks his fist down on top of her head. “Hurry up!”

“Fuck you!”

At least she sounds more like herself now. Nevertheless she settles her sword in front of her again. Ichigo pours his power into her, until the ribbon on her wrists glows faintly red. Her eyes gleam the palest blue and she puts herself between Ichigo and her own brother.

“Tsugi no mai,” bells ring and she dips the tip of her sword in the ground, “ Hakuren .”

There’s so many waves of blossoms she’s forced to repeat the move four times. Each time Ichigo swings his sword, sending out wave after wave of his own attack. He doesn’t know it’s name, still, but that’s less important now than just not dying. A few petals slip through, slicing through Ichigo’s body. He only bleeds sluggishly.

Ichigo darts through the cloud of cherry blossoms, towards a Byakuya that looks halfway to actually upset. His mouth is curved downwards.

Ichigo brings his sword down hard, slicing through the air and the bridge. Pale energy roars forth. Even with Rukia consuming his Reiryoka he doesn’t falter when Byakuya shoots balls of light at him. He dodges between them, ducks down, and swings upwards. His sword is stopped by a glowing pink one that forms in Byakuya’s hand.

Ichigo let’s go of Zangetsu. The ribbon at the end it wrapped firmly around his wrist and swings wildly at Byakuya’s legs, when it’s blocked against.

Ichigo plants both of his hands on the glowing sword, letting the blades bits into his skin while he hoists himself above it and slams his head into Byakuya’s nose.

It gives way with a crunch. The sword dissolves and Ichigo kicks him hard in the stomach and drives his elbow on the mans back when he’s forced to double over.

Ichigo punches the back of his head with a bleeding fist.

Byakuya hits the ground, still, and the flower petals slowly float back to his side.

Ichigo turns to the other captain while he wraps his hands up like a boxer with Zangetsu’s white ribbons.

Rukia is panting, surrounded by glittering ice and snow, but with Ichigo’s power coursing through her she doesn’t fall to her knees. Even when another stupidly strong man comes out of nowhere to stand beside Ukitake. The one Ichigo had felt before.  

The shadow. The laugh on the wind. A man with a straw hat and a pink kimono across his shoulders. His brown hair is tied back, save a single strand that falls across his face.

He looks a bit like Kyo. Older, more easy going, but he doesn’t feel the same.  

This is the man that feels like a stretched shadow and a laugh, and smells like too-sweet sake. There is a poem somewhere under his skin.

Ichigo narrows his eyes at the pair of them. They move with the ease of long practice, a duo that knows how the other so much as breathes.

“Oh wow. I didn’t expect you to be surrounded by such interesting people, Juushiro. They one is rather brutal,” the new comer cocked his head, his eyes on Ichigo.

He’s strong. He and Ukitake are both strong enough that even without releasing their zanpakuto he’d been willing to bet that they were born around the time of the round table. They don’t have the raw destructive power of Mordred or Artoria, but they’re at least on par with Agravain.

Agravain, the Man Who Knew No Wounds.

Ichigo holds his ground.

“I wasn’t expecting it either,” Ukitake confessed. He tilted his head, and called out two smaller Shinigami. When he sent them off to fetch someone from the fourth, Ichigo made no move to stop them.

“Are you going to try to stop us?” Ichigo asks lowly.

“Stop you from what, exactly?” the man with the hat asks, “You Ryoka are so tricky, this is the first time we’ve been able to corner one of you. To think you disguised yourself,” he casts a glance at Ganju over his shoulder. Ganju, who stays perfectly still. Like a rabbit caught in a snare.

Rukia, too, looks much more hesitant to fight these two men than she was to raise a sword to even her own brother.

Ichigo doesn’t blame them.

“Right,” Ichigo runs his thumb across the back edge of Zangetsu. “Rukia. You should go now.”

“What?” her head snaps to him. “I’m not just going to run-!”

“Rukia,” his voice sharpens. Commanding, firm, it’s nothing like the laidback boy who she had taught the shinigami ways to, all those months ago. It feels like half a lifetime. “Go. The other’s are waiting for you. Bad Luck should lead your path. Take Ganju and Hanataro with you. We kidnapped him along the way,” he adds for good measure. If he can make sure at least one of them won’t get in trouble for this, he will.

“That’s very noble of you,” says the hatman. “But you can’t really believe that we’ll just let you go, no can you?”

“Honestly, I don’t know how you people think at all,” Ichigo nearly spits his disdain at them. “You’re going to execute Rukia for saving people’s lives and protecting humans. You’re all willing to just follow orders, even if it means murdering your own sister, or someone you’re supposed to take care of!” he turns his burning eye on Ukitake, who actually leans back from his vitriol. “So no. I don’t think you’ll let us go. That’s why I’m not going to give you a choice!”

He throws himself at them, wrapping his power around him in a glowing cloak of defense easy to switch to devastating offense. He does not have his Shielder here, and the only one he knows is strong enough to have his back now is Rukia, who cannot stand against the pair of titans before him.

The hatman draws the shorter of his blade to block Ichigo. The impact jars his hands enough that they start to bleed through their wrappings.

“You should just surrender,” he says piteously. “You’re already injured. You’ve taken down two captains and three lieutenants. You should really be proud. You’ve proven you’re a force to be reckoned with. That’s why, I cannot let you leave here so easily.”

Ichigo notes, in the part of his mind that has learned to puzzle over and pick apart people's intentions, that he had not said leave at all.

“Fine then,” Ichigo pours his power through his sword and pushes the man back until he’s forced to draw his second. “I have no problem fighting you if I have to. And whatever the outcome is,” whether Ichigo finds himself dead on the ground, or whether this man falls to his blade, “Let it be on my head. And the Devil take the hindmost.”

*****

As the weight of the Ryoka’s power settles across the Seireitei, far off in a mansion of white walls and dark shadows, an old man bereft of a future lifts his head. From the shadows his eyes glow with the faint blue of hellfire.

He has waited centuries for this. His wait is coming to a close.

All around him his children scramble, while one run away stretches out near the epicenter of change.

******

[drowninginblox]

Thrown into it

Part: 1,2,3,4

Part 6

I just want to say, whoever shopped for my change of clothes- thank you so fucking much. I mean I really thought I wouldn’t be able to pull off ripped jeans but.. I think I look great! Especially how the shirt contrasts how light they are. Oh wait let me clarify. In the bag were some light blue jeans, a white shirt that was a little big on me, some black shoes with orange butterflies, a hair tie, the necessities, and a letterman jacket. Don’t worry I’m all dressed! The only thing missing from this outfit is the jacket. But I'm a little perturbed by it. Like- the more that I look at it, the more I wonder if this is Mirio’s. I mean it's dark blue with white sleeves and white symbols on it. Or are they logos? What I mean is that it looks like the one he wore to the school’s culture festival at the end of season 4. 

Wait.. what if this is Mirio’s? What if he gave this to Mic so he could give it to me? My face flushed at the thought. Me wearing Mirio’s jacket.. What would it feel like? What would it smell like..? I hesitate to grab the jacket, eventually doing so and lifting it to my nose. Wait a minute- what the fuck am i doing? This could be his jacket and here I am being a creep! Why am I like this? He might be cute but no way in hell am I gonna turn into Toga! “Stop thinking about him!” I throw the jacket over my shoulder before hiding my face in my hands. “Stop with that shit!” I remind myself. “He is out of our league! Real or not!”

“Who?” I jump at a familiar voice. “What the fuck man!” I turn to see the hot mess known as Present Mic along with a smiling Nezu in the doorway. Fuck that blonde bastard and shit eating grin. I inhale sharply at the scene I just made all the while silence hangs over us. “Im so sorry.” I mumble, my head hanging down. “I- If I knew you were there I wouldn't have sworn sir.” The small principal laughs light heartedly while Mic chuckles at my suffering. “Y/n, my name is principal Nezu of UA.” He says calmly. I raise my head to properly see him. “Some of my staff have met you and you seem to know them. I can not interfere in the government’s  investigation of you, however I am allowed to ask on behalf of my staff how you know them along with some other questions in order to assist.” The mousy man explains. “For example, we will be escorting you to a safe place for you to stay.” He looks up at Present Mic with a smile. “Can you escort Y/n to the car?” He asked. Well, it’s framed as a question but it sounded more like an order. But Hizashi wasn't complaining, at least as far as I know since he nodded with his signature, enthusiastic smile. Once Nezu left the door frame, Mic turned his attention to me. “Got what you need?” Mic asks. I glance over to the jacket, abandoned on the bed. “Hold on.” I say as I go to get it but when I get to the bed it isn’t there. “What the..?” I begin to question only to be stopped by light. Not white light, it was a light yellow- almost gold in color- forming around my chest in the shape of the jacket. “Uhhhhhh-!” In a matter of seconds the light fades and the jacket appears on me. It's a little big but so warm. Almost like a hug from a family member or friend that you haven't seen in awhile. I look back to see Mic in awe at what I just did. “What did-?”

“Dude dont ask me cus I have no idea!” I say to defend myself. From the lower, right hand corner of the door frame, Nezu popped his head back into view. “Did I miss something?” Mic nods his head while I shake mine, both of us dumbfounded at what just transpired. He looks between the two of us and chuckles, leaving us once again. “I-” I start but he just shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Nope. Not right now. Let’s just go.” He decides and leaves. Seeing as I have nowhere else to go, I follow him.

Walking through the hospital is weird in itself. Partially because I don't remember entering along with the fact that seeing people with animal or alienistic attributes to them isnt something I’m used to yet. Accompanied with all the smells and sounds that come with hospitals, it just is a big nope for me. Some people don't like heights, some people don't like tight spaces, others dont like bugs- “Hey are you okay? You sound like one of my students.” Speaking of. “Huh?” I look around. Couples, families, some people alone sit in chairs while women at desks work quietly. In front of us is a sliding, glass door leading to the world I seem to be stuck in. “Are you coming?” He asks with a hint of concern in his voice. “Oh-um.. Y-yeah. Just grapelling with this again.” I try to calm myself with a laugh. “Again?” He prompts, lowering his shades a little. Woah look at those eyes. Since when did he have heterochromia? I thought he had red or green eyes..? “Uh, kid? You’re spacing out again.” He points out. I jump “Fuck- sorry!” I apologize. “Hey, hey, it's okay! Just got worried that you were trying to bail on us.” It takes me a moment to register what he said but once I did snort at that. “Me? Try to bail on pro heros? Does it look like I am insane?” I ask. The blonde takes a moment to stare. He sighs, taking his shades off to stare at me. Again what are those eyes? He looks up and down at me before I break the silence “You’re a Christmas boi.” I mumble under my breath. He narrows his eyes as a smile teases his lips. “W-what?” He says through a laugh. “You have red and green eyes! You’re a Christmas boi!” I smile wide at my declaration. The sleek, black, car beside us opens a door. Once again Nezu poked his head out for us to see. “I’m sorry to interrupt but we are on a schedule.” He reminds us. We apologize and rush into the car. 

This car is packed for what it was. Mic was in shotgun while I was behind the driver. It’s so weird having everything be backwards. Nezu sat right beside me and on his right was pro hero Snipe. Nezu faces me- which was weird in itself since I’ve only seen three- fourths of his face most of the time- and smiles kindly. Before I could say anything he turns his head to Snipe. “Y/n, this is Snipe. He is a teacher at UA. If the government allows it, you will be seeing him again.” The pro remains straight laced from what I can tell. His gas mask leaves much to the imagination. “And if you don't mind looking at our driver,” Nezu adds with a point of his paw. I look through the right rear view mirror to see the helmet of none other than arbor day himself. “Woods!” I shouted, starling everyone in the car to the point of jumping in their seat. “You know him too?!” Mic exhorts, his shades crooked from my excitement. “Of course!” I confirm. “Dude is amazing! So underrated, so little screen time!” Kamui sighs and sits up. “And to think I was getting away from fangirls..” He mumbles. “Sorry! I’ll tone it down. It’s bad enough Mic is in the car.” I apologize with a smile at what I did. “Hey!” Mic yells. From Nezu’s side Snipe gives off what I can only assume is a snort. “Not you too!” The blonde whines. Kamui only starts the car with a sigh, pulling us out of the hospital and out onto the open highway. “The kid has a point Hizashi, you know damn well it's true!” He says through his laughter. “It’s not! Nezu back me up here!” Mic pleads. I laugh when I turn to see the tiny principal with comically wide, Allmight headphones covering his ears. Snipe laughs louder while Mic continues to call on Nezu to help only for it to fall on deaf ears. Kamui- from what I can see- just taps his fingers on the wheel muttering about the situation he’s in. Poor man needs a couch and a blanket. “Hey, um.. Mr. Woods? Woods?” He sighs. “Kamui is fine.” He assures. His eyes glance back at me through the mirror. “What made you want to be a hero?” I ask with a cock of my head like an airhead would. He chuckles a little. “Its a long story..” He assures. “And it isn’t all that interesting. And I don't think I should tell you.”  I shrug my shoulders. “Doesn't matter if it is or isn’t interesting. I only know you for your quirk. And your pro hero status. There is always more behind a title.” He rolls his head for a minute and exhales. “Okay but you could be a little brat who could tell everyone.”

“True, but I don't know anyone outside of UA, and surely you've been asked this before?”

He takes a moment and sighs again. “Well, okay. But only because it’s gonna be a while. It's not that interesting though.” He restates as if to ask me if I’m sure. I scoot up a little in my seat like a child, making him chuckle again. “Okay! Okay!” His slumping spine is straightened again. “I didn't really know what I wanted to be when I was younger. My dad said I should be a carpenter.” I chuckle. “Really?” He nods. “Yeah, either that or a fireman. But looking back on it-”

“Fire and wood?” I questioned with a look. He laughs. “I know! If it wasn't for the money that came with being a hero he would’ve insisted. And I would’ve been one too if it wasn't for my sister.” I put an elbow on my knee. “Now what did she do?” A noise of amusement makes its way out of him. “It wasn't all her fault!” He defended. “Well what happened?” 

“On Christmas eve, I was about 13. My sister comes running in saying that the family cat ran away. My dad was drunk on the couch and my mom was still making dinner so she didn't hear her. She begged me to help her find the poor thing. So me, being the amazing brother I am- put on my coat and walked out into the freezing cold with nothing but a flashlight. My family lived right next to this deep forest and in that forest is a lake. I walk to the lake to see the cat meowing at some frozen water.” I nod along. “I look too over at it and see a person banging against the ice! So without hesitation I grow a branch larger than anything I have ever made at that point and shatter the ice with it. Later helping out the guy who was trapped under there.” My eyes widened at that. “Woah! Who was the guy?” He shrugged. “He told me he was a friend of one of the neighbors. There were some parties around so I didn’t question it. He went on his way, and I found satisfaction in helping him.” A smile found its way in his voice, now warm and calm behind the wheel. “I guess you could say without him you wouldn't be here.” I conclude. He nods his head. “Wow woods. I didn’t know that was why.” Snipe commented, making me jump. “Y-You-!” Woods stumbled over himself. “Since when did you guys-”

“A third of the way into your story.” Mic pipped. “That's very selfless of you.” 

“O-Oh.. Thank you.” Arbor boy mumbled. “Oh! We’re here!”