Chapter Text
There was blood, the scent of it was in the air itself as blood has stained the white-stone walls and floors of the long corridors. Corpses of men in white military-uniform with limbs being cut off, dismember and bifurcate. As they were now laying scattered across the floor having pools of blood, as the bodies were not responsive like the state they were now in.
The little boy stared In horror with tears leaking from the corner of his eyes, seeing the ones who he considered to be his ____ being lifeless on the floor. Like puppets whose strings had been cut off from them, now laying on the ground.
“Your ________!” An man screamed out, wearing the same military-uniform as he leap in front of the boy.
Suddenly a blade sliced the man in half, his blood squirting everywhere as the bisected man fell to the ground, resulting in greatly horrifying the boy.
Blood splatter across the boy's cheek, as few drops leaked down on the surface of his skin.
The boy whimpered In cold wrenching fear as he stand there with his legs shaking visibly to the naked eye.
A woman with large-rounded thin-rimmed glasses who was dressed in a very black-colored nagagi kimono with a black umanori-styled hakama as she wielded a spear with a white double-edged blade within the palm of her hand.
She raised her spear as one of the tip of the blade swung down heading towards the boy as his eyes reflected off the metal from it. As it was about to strike—!!
“Orion!”
Feeling his shoulder being shaken by someone, Orion woke up with a gasp as his eyes snapped open wide, his breathing was rapid before quickly settling down as the teen sat up in his bed. “Wha..?” He utters tiredly, looking to the side to see it was Karin.
“Hey, You didn't come down for breakfast..” Karin said, despite the non-caring expression on her face, her gaze looked at him with worry. “But.. are you alright..?”
“Yeah, I'm fine.” Orion reassuringly said as he waved his hand at her before shifting his body as his legs hang over the edge of the body. “Why do you ask..?”
“You're literally crying right now..” the black haired young girl pointed blandly. “See?”
The teen blinked for a moment as his hand reached for his face as he felt the trails of tears leaking down his cheek. “Huh..” He mutters quietly, speechless at this discovery.
“What were you even dreaming about that made you cry..?”
“I… I don't even remember what the dream was about..” Orion spoke in a distantly tone, his gaze looking far off through the window as if lost in thought. “What did I dream about anyway…?”
“I see..”
The shopkeeper let out a sigh before putting down the scroll on the table. Kisuke hummed as he tapped his fan against the palm of his hand while pondering n deep thought. “Well, this certainly contains a lot of useful information.” He said with a hint of amusem*nt. “Filling in certain gaps, I suppose we now have the proper term for the teen's eyes now, or rather we should call it his Dojutsu...”
Isshin frowned at him as he leaned forward. “What do you think that thing would even gain from giving this to Orion..?”
“Oh, well I have a lot of things in mine about what it could want. For starters, perhaps it wants to gain the teen's trust or sway Orion to his side with the promise of giving valuable information to him.. Classic themes in human movies.” Kisuke chuckled before he leaned back against his chair, his expression now mirroring Isshin's. “But I can't be too sure, since it isn't clear what the creature's goal is here..”
It was quite a shock to him upon reading the contents within the scroll if he was being honest. The scroll contains information especially about chakra and dojutsu. His hunch was right when chakra was a supernatural substance, although the concept of ‘chakra natures’ certainly explained why Orion was able to utilize elemental attacks.
Kisuke pointed the tip of his fan at a section of the scroll. “If you look here, some of the lines mention something about energy here, but it doesn't specifically explain it but it seems our little ‘friend’ is withholding parts of information then.”
Masaki looked over, scanning over the scroll, thinking deeply as she bit her lower lip. “Could it be just referring something similar to Reishi..?” She asked, looking up from the scroll.
“That's a possibility.” The shopkeeper said, amusing the thought itself. “But I don't think it is. As Reishi are spirit particles..”
“I’ll give Ryūken a call about this…” Isshin started to say, sharing a look with his wife. “And see what he thinks about this..”
“In the meantime, I'll be heading back to the shop and making use of this new information given to us.” Kisuke announced, standing up from his chair. “But do be careful you two.” He warned them with a frown settling in his face.
“Haaa.. Of course.” Isshin waved his hand dismissively at the shopkeeper.
“Please let us know if you find anything.. especially about the… thing.” Masaki asked in a concerning tone, her eyes staring at the shopkeeper.
Kisuke didn't say anything but gives a nod at the matriarch of the Kurosaki family before making his exit through the door.
‘I wonder… if there's something else at play here, perhaps. But if that's the case.. how will it even affect the upcoming future then, especially against him..’
It has been a day later after the whole ordeal involving the humanoid. Since then, everyone had been tense, as if waiting for the thing to come back and continue its rampage against them or at Orion in particular. But the Humanoid didn't come back.
But during the passing of a day, Orion didn't bother to come with ichigo and Rukia after school was done for the day or even try to hang out with Orihime. The teen went straight home via Kamui as his mind was clearly troubled by the encounter of meeting the Humanoid.
He tried his best not to show it, not wanting to worry anyone.
For some reason ever since waking up from that dream, the one he couldn't remember, it felt like his heart was hurting in the ocean depths of sorrow and grief. The teen doesn't know why he even felt like this, it only made him angry for some reason, both at himself and at the feelings themselves. He wanted to stop feeling this way.
He doesn't want to feel the pain he felt for these past years...
Orion sniffed quietly while raising his arm to use his sleeve to wipe the tears, that was beginning to form at the corner of his eyes, off from his face.
“Damnit..” The teen chuckles bitterly, shaking his head. “What a crybaby I am..” He softly whispers to himself with a fake smile on his face.
Though a wave of guilt hits him as he realizes he hasn't really interacted with anyone for the entirety of the day since he basically closes himself off. Orion wishes he could smack himself and do something about it.
However, it was nighttime already at this point, which makes it more obvious on how closes off he had been.
The Mangekyou Sharingan shifted to life within his eyes as Orion disappeared via Kamui as he simply reappeared and disappeared in the Kamui Dimension as quickly as he can, having the intended destination to arrive at.
Once reappearing in the certain part of Karakura Town in the human world, Orion landed on his feet as he stood up straight before offering a wave from his hand to Ichigo and Rukia. “Yo..” He said with a perfectly crafted smile on his face, concealing his current emotions behind his laid-back expression.
“Gah-?!” Rukia let out a surprising yelp at the sudden appearance of Orion, jumping a few feet back. “How did you..?!”
“Kamui.” Ichigo and Orion blandly stated in unison as the two stared at her with similar deadpan expressions.
Hearing this, Rukia let out an exasperated sigh as she lowered her head. “Of course..” She utters to herself.
“So what did I miss..?” Orion asked, turning his attention to ichigo. “I assume I miss something exciting then..?”
“Ghost Bust..”
Making an understanding 'ah' out of his mouth, Orion shakes his head at hearing this. “I see.. so that really did happen huh?” He mutters with a hint of genuine amusem*nt.
“Huh?” Rukia tilted her head to the side confusingly.
“Me and Orion made a bet to see which Show would.. will forcefully cause an earth-bound spirit to become a hollow quickly..” Ichigo sighed, remembering the bet from two years ago.
“Idiots, they don't know what they're doing.” Orion shakes his head with an annoyed look. “I suppose everything went well..?”
Ichigo nodded in response, raising an eyebrow at him. “Yeah it did..”
“Well, as much as I would like to enjoy my victory over that bet of ours..” Orion begin to say, his eyes looking to the side. “I can feel that to be unnecessary to do so at the moment.”
Giving off a brief nod as there was something on Ichigo’s mind that he wanted to ask his friend about. “Hey I gotta ask but.. Are you okay?”
“Of course, I am..” The teen quickly said with a shrug. “Why wouldn't I be?”
Ichigo could only frown at him when hearing his friend's response. It didn't reassure him by the slightest, especially how quick it was. He knows Orion would stubbornly insists that he's fine if he kept asking him.
“Ichigo, Orion!” Uryū's voice called out to them from a distance.
The two teens looked to see Uryū urgently running towards them. “Hey what's the rush, Uryū?” Orion asked as he furrowed his brows.
“I'm here to warn you..” Uryū said in a grim tone as he glared through his glasses at the trio, although he glared at Rukia in more of a resentful way. “It's about Miss Tenenbaum..”
Ichigo, Rukia and Orion became alarmed as the upper latter narrowed his eyes while staring at Uryū. “What about her..?”
Uryū's expression settled to be a grim one that matches his tone. “Earlier today, when father informed about the sudden encounter of this humanoid entity by aunty, Miss Tenenbaum suddenly became furious and entered a state of blind-fury as she ranted about how this all started because of the Shinigami's arrival, before any of us could stop her, she ran off. We could only guess that she-”
“Came to the conclusion to deal with Rukia..?!” Ichigo finished as he yelled out, alarmed by this unsettling piece of news. “How did she even come to that?!”
“To be honest..” Orion rubbed the back of his neck. “Ever since the Shinigami came here, everything has been a bit hectic lately..” He trailed off, falling silent as he glanced at Rukia. “But her anger is blinding her, I can admit that.”
“That's an understatement about her anger.” Ichigo utters in response before turning to look at Uryū. “Is she coming here now..?”
“Why don't you ask me yourself..”
Coming out of the shadows was Frieda who wore a fitting white military-uniform with the symbol of the Lichtreich on her cap. The female quincy ignored the two male teens but instead she glared down at the powerless Shinigami who was standing in between those who she had trained.
Rukia had to hold back a gulp as she sweated slightly under the gaze of the Quincy woman.
“Ever since this one has arrived here, there has been nothing but trouble for us all..” Frieda seething through her teeth, his fists clenching tightly with the sound of her knuckles cracking. “Evident by the arrival of this threat from two days ago..”
Majority of the group shifted uneasy when she spoke of this, especially Orion In particular who gained a serious look on his face when remembering the events himself.
“Look, I'm sure there's better than just resorting to this..” Ichigo tried to say as he intensely stared at her with his jaw clenched tensely due to the rising frustration within him. “if we could just talk it out..”
“You don't understand! She's a Shinigami-! They are a curse, a stain on this world! for which they-!” Frieda angrily yelled out, pointing at him in disbelief.
“Tenenbaum.”
Snapping out of her raging state, Frieda flinched at the sound of his voice as she couldn't help but widened her eyes when seeing the teen looking at her with a cold calculating-impassive and stoic gaze, as it reminded her of His-!!
“Rukia is here with us until she regains her powers, right?” Orion spoke in a calm tone of voice as his demeanor matches it as well. “When that happens, she won't be a problem for us anymore.”
“I know that some of us are here..” The teen gestures his hand towards Uryū and himself. “Didn't want her to be here, but regardless at least we didn't let our feelings blind us. For me, it's the same but also I dislike conflict to happen between us.. But..”
Orion stopped talking for a moment as he let the silence settled in between them all before he continues on.
“If you aren't able to not let your emotions blind you, then…” Orion took a breath before his gaze turned into an intense glare. “I'll fight you in a duel tomorrow after school then, so we can settle this as it appears words won't be able to sway you..”
His words clearly made those near him to go wide-eyed upon hearing them as they couldn't believe what he had just said.
Frieda looked shocked by this, she took a single step back as her mind refused to hear what she was hearing. But alas, what she was hearing is the truth of her to know that the boy she has watched grow up into a teen, had challenged her to a duel.
Her fists trembled with such an intense mixture of emotions that were swirling and raging inside her. Slowly she began to regather her composure before attaining an calm and strict demeanor around her. “Very well..” Frieda spoke through her teeth with much reluctance and rage leaking into her voice. “Tomorrow then.”
With that being said, she turned around on her high heel before leaving the area at a fast pace.
The tension in the atmosphere was so thick that no one dared to say a word after seeing the female Quincy leave the area in a huff.
It was Orion who broke the silence as he let out a somewhat sigh of annoyance. “Great..” He mutters to himself with an eye roll. “Never thought that this would come to this..”
“Orion..” Uryū spoke up, staring at him with a serious gaze. “You do realize what you have done right..?”
Orion nodded in response, didn't bother to look at him as the teen ran his fingers through his locks of hair. “Yeah I do.” He calmly said. “But it had to be done, I did it because of the circ*mstances behind the Shinigami's situation. As you know, Uryū, you and I didn't let our emotions blind us. Besides I rather not see an defenseless person, regardless if they are an powerless midget-like Shinigami, be attacked without a chance to defend themselves.”
“Tch..” Rukia grumbles in annoyance when she hears him referencing her, especially hearing the midget part.
“Do you want us to come with you tomorrow?”
The teen shakes his head as he looks over at ichigo. “No, I have to do this alone.” He responded in a firm tone. “I won't let anyone else get involved in this.”
Ichigo and Uryū didn't say anything but share a glance, having a silent conversation between each other, regarding their friend's decision.
And boy, they aren't very sure about the chances between him and Tenenbaum.
Karakura High-
“Looks like Orion is in first place as usual.”
Tatsuki commented with a nod as she looked at the final exam Top scores for the 1st semester on the wall. She spotted Uryū and Ichigo's names, as the former had come in 2nd and the latter came in 5th place. Once she saw who came in 3rd place, Tatsuki let out a sound of approval. “Oh, third place? Looks like you did great then.” The tomboy said as she patted her best friend's back to show her support for her.
“hehehe..” Orihime giggles softly as she smiles brightly in a cheerful mood.
“Seems like no one could beat Orion this time around..” a girl nearby commented with a tone of amusem*nt. “Always having top grades, exactly like in middle school.”
“Oh come on!”
Many of the students turned their heads to see Keigo who cried out in horror as he saw Chad was placed in eleventh place. The teen fell to his knees dramatically as he slammed his fist against the floor. “I'll never hang out with them again!” He wailed out comedically.
Standing next to Keigo, Mizuiro just chuckle nervously as he shakes his head at the his friend's usual antics.
“Still noisy as ever..” Tatsuki mumbles underneath her breath in annoyance.
Not far behind was ichigo who looked at the scores for himself, only to scowled deeply at the sight of it.
‘1st place as always…!?’ Ichigo thought in frustration as he scowled at the sight of the score's results. ‘Damnit, My score rank dropped three places because I have been doing all of this Shinigami crap! I need to catch up..’
‘Hahahahahhaha!’ Zangetsu laughter echoed within Ichigo’s mind. ‘Don’t be a sore loser, Kingy! There's always next time!’
‘Shut it!’
“I see. He beat us this year as well.”
Ichigo lifted his head as he looked over to see Uryū who had a frown on his face while observing the scores as well.
“Father isn't going to be pleased that I haven't landed in first place.” Uryū sighed, dipping his head in disappointment at the results he was seeing.
“As long as we're in the top ten, Uncle Ryūken would probably be lax with us..” Ichigo said to his cousin before glaring back at the scores. “Although, this means we need to work harder in order for one of us to get first place then..”
“Agreed.” Uryū formally nodded in agreement with a spark of his fiery-competition spirit has lit within his eyes.
The two were so focused that they didn't notice Orion walked right pass them as he gave a subtle glance at the scores with a hint of a faint smile on his face before continuing to walk off.
“Oh!” Orihime noticed him as she quickly ran up to catch up at his pace. “Orion-kun!”
Stopping In his tracks, Orion turned his head to look at her. “Oh, hey Orihime.” He greeted her, putting his hands in his pockets.
“Orion-kun..” Orihime started to say, looking up at his gaze. “Everyone hasn't seen you lately, especially after school ends..” She stared at him, searching for an answer. “Are you okay..?”
The teen didn't answer her straight away as he looked at her eyes which were shining due to the sunlight pouring in through the window. A silence followed after that as Orion took a deep breath and letting it out slowly as he let out a half-smile on his face.
“I can reassure you, I'm fine.” He gently told her. “It's no big deal after all..”
“I see..” Orihime looked down for a moment, a look of worry was on her face briefly before gaining a seemingly happier expression. “No big deal huh..?”
He subtly nodded at her, his tired gaze was evident on his face. “I need to do something..” Orion mutters, turning away from her. “Something pretty urgent, that I need to do alone.” He finished saying, his finger tapping his Quincy Cross as it jingled while the cross itself was hidden within one of his sleeves.
Her eyes widened a bit in understanding, she nodded slowly as her smile didn't waiver. “Please take care of yourself, Orion-kun.”
“Don’t worry, I will.” He promised as he looked over his shoulder at her with a firm nod. “Take care now, will you?”
Not waiting for a response, Orion already begun to walk away down the corridor, already set to do what he have to do as he disappeared into the distance.
Orihime’s now worried gaze looked at the direction of where Orion had run off to, as she clenched her hands together.
Behind the crowd of students in the corridors, Ichigo leaned against the wall as he watched his friend leave with a subtle frown on his face.
‘I still can't believe it..’ Ichigo thought, his gaze looking down at the floor. ‘To think, Orion is going to battle against Tenenbaum…’
‘Kingy, there are some fights that one must fight alone..’
‘I know.. But… why do I get a feeling something big is about to happen..?’
Ichigo looked up at the window, spotting a few birds flying by as He couldn't help but continue to stare through it in deep thought..
“Oh I didn't realize you had already met Uryū But Tenenbaum-san as well then?”
Rukia nodded at the shopkeeper, looking a bit uncomfortable when she told him about her. “Yeah..”
Kisuke looked at her with a bemused smile on his face, hiding it behind the fan in his hands. “I suppose she gave you quite the scare there..?”
"Err.." She shivered at the recent memory of meeting the Quincy woman from last night.
“I don't know if you know this but the Shinigami let Uryu's grandfather die years ago when he, ichigo and Orion were still boys back then.” He said, surprising Rukia. "As you may know, The Quincy were a clan, a tribe of spiritually aware humans who specialized in destroying hollows. Complete destruction, not cleansing them at all. It was then, The Quincy became almost extinct about 200 years ago.”
Rukia paid full attention to the former captain as she listened closely to every word he said while explaining a lost history most did not know. “Almost extinct?”
“Yes..” Kisuke nodded before continuing on. "If you look from a certain point of view, Their mission was to hunt hollows. Sought to destroy them, After all, Why let something who devours souls go and live in peace at the Soul society? So The Quincy have always killed hollows, believing it as a way to avenge their comrades and protect the ones they hold dear in their hearts. In a way, it was a very human thing for them to go and do. The Shinigami tried to convince them to leave the business of hollows to them, but the Quincy refused. So, the Shinigami decided that they had to be all but wiped out. To them, The Quincy threatened the balance of souls that the Shinigami worked to maintain. So they used the massacre as some sort of last resort about two hundred years ago. The survivors tried to live in peace while some still advocated an alliance of sorts. Sōken Ishida, Uryū's grandfather, was the last Quincy elder to support that idea..” The shopping sighed. “However, Tenenbaum-san is the opposite as she doesn't support the idea itself. Due to what had become of The Quincy at the hands of the Shinigami.”
Rukia was shaking up from what she has heard, a bit disturbed by the revelation of the massacre of the Quincy. Was this what Ichigo's father meant by ‘bloodied history’? She thought he meant it to be a scandal but this..? 'Why didn't I know about this..?’
“You're a new Soul Reaper..” Kisuke told her as if reading her line of thought, surprising her. “It's natural someone of your rank wouldn't know something like this.”
Pondering over the shopkeeper’s words, Rukia bite the inside of her cheek. Just then her pager went off. She picked it up, only for her to immediately become frozen in pure terror at what she saw.
"What- What is this!?”
-----
Standing in the middle of the road, Orion blankly stared at Frieda who stood a few feet away from him.
There wasn't a single sound coming from them as only the sound of a windy breeze was heard, blowing past them with the shaking of nearby branches of the trees themselves.
The difference between mentor and student, was the former was wearing clothes that were all white while the latter wore clothes that were entirely black.
“Do you think you can handle fighting against me..?” Frieda sternly asked the teen, her gaze never losing it's effect.
Orion didn't flinch one bit as he pulled out his hands from his pockets. “I would like to think so.” He calmly said. “Especially my recents fights showed me that.”
Chucking at what he has just said, Freida just shakes her head in what could be almost described as similar to disbelief. But truth be told, the woman knew that the teen she has trained does have the capabilities to handle against her quite well in fact. That she wasn't shameful to admit, as she acknowledged that with pride.
“Then you know what must be done..”
The teen closed his eyes, still maintaining the calm demeanor around him. “Yes I do.” He finally spoke those words, adjusting and readying his stance, the edges of his fingers twitching for a moment as he manifested a sword out of reishi within his grasp.
Frieda mirrored the teen's stance on instinct, having the battle experience give her an advantage over the teen, the woman didn't saw him as an student but now as an opponent.
Undeterred despite the unsettling look from her, Orion refused to show any kind of weakness to the woman, especially knowing how she fights during his years of training under her.
There was no telling who was going to make the first move that would kickstart this battle between them. Not an inch of life would dare to interrupt them, not even the ants would and the other insects, somehow knowing the tension between these two beings as well.
“I-” Stopping mid sentence as Orion sensed something strange in the air, immediately the teen turned around only to see a swarm of hollows had appeared through holes in dimensional space, now pouring into the city. And what's worse is that their numbers were at least Hundreds or perhaps more than that as well.
Orion and Frieda looked on in horror as they saw those mindless beasts descend upon the town.
“f*ck!” The teen cursed, grabbing the handle of his sword tightly. “With this many of them, then Everyone will be..!”
He didn't dare finish that sentence as Orion immediately sprinted off in a panic. “Did somebody use Hollow bait?!” He yelled in anger while running.
The two ran through the streets while up on the rooftop of a building in the distance was the Humanoid who let out a grin while crushed remnants and pieces of what looked to be a white tablet like an oversized aspirin, lay at the base of his feet.
“Yes… yes run as fast as you can..”
“Damnit!”
Ichigo yelled out, already out of his physical body, wielding Zangetsu in one of his hands as he sped towards the incoming hollows.
‘What the hell is going on…?!’
There was no time to think, if there was this many hollows then his family and friends are in danger right now! He knows Uryū and Orion could handle themselves but his sisters!
‘come on, Kingy! Let's kick those asses!’ Zangetsu’s voice yelled within Ichigo's mind.
Nodding firmly with a spark of determination in his eyes as Ichigo couldn't help but agree with Zangetsu, his grip tightens around His Zanpakutō as he charges towards the incoming hollows.
Ichigo slices down his Zanpakutō across one of the incoming Hollows mask's. The teen rushed off, towards the others monsters as He manifested an sword out of reishi in his other hand.
‘I need to get as many of these guys as I can..’ Ichigo thought quickly. ‘I can't let any of them set their sights on anyone else..’
-----
“Uhh…?!”
Karin stared at the distance in horror at what she was seeing right now, the sight of many hollows pouring through that she couldn't bother on counting on how many there were. But fear held her, remembering the trauma of when a hollow had broken through her home's wall.
‘N-no way…!’ The young girl thought In horror at the amount of hollows in the distance. ‘There so many..!’
She turned her head to look at the other kids behind her, Karin realized that they all needed to get somewhere to safety immediately.
A large shadow appears with it looming over Karin from behind as heavy breathing could be heard.
“Now, don't You look tasty…!”
Frozed up in a chilling moment of fear as the memory of her training kicked in, Karin turned around as a pendant of her Quincy Cross hung around her wrist. Out of sheer desperation, she formed a small bow out of reishi before firing it out.
The arrow pierced through the Hollow's side which it had let out an angered and anguished roar, to which Karin took her chance and backed away from the monster itself.
‘This isn't good..!’ Karin thought with a bead of sweat sliding down her face. ‘I know I’m not strong or skilled like Mom or Ichigo yet, But I haven't fought off a hollow directly before..!’
But that didn't matter as the hollow with the intent to kill, had turned it's attention to Karin which caused said girl to go tense as she took another step back as if preparing to run away or defend herself against it.
Of course, she can't have any casualties in the way.
“Run, there's a murderer on the loose!” Karin yelled as she turned her head to the other kids behind me.
At first, the kids thought she was joking or playing an prank on them. However, by the look on her face, was enough to convince them that it wasn't. Immediately the children ran away and scattered while letting out of screams of fear into the distance.
The hollow roared, lunging at the girl with it's jaws open wide for the intention to devour as Karin turned around with a look of fear plastered on her face.
Out of nowhere, Chad came rushing in and grabbed Karin, taking her out of the way as the hollow missed them, leading it to crashed onto the ground before hitting against the base of a tree.
“H-huh?!” Karin blinked a couple of times, with her being startled to see him here. “You're Ichi and Ori’s friend..”
A roar cut off the interaction short as Karin and Chad turned to see the hollow facing them with it being far more aggressive than before.
“It's seems piss off..” The little girl mutters, never taking her eyes away from the sight of it.
Chad spared an side-glance to her with a hint of surprise in his eyes. “You can see it… that clearly?”
“Can I see it..?” Karin asked a bit in disbelief at being asked this question. “I can see it as clear as day, Now dodge out of the way-!”
The half-mexican barely turned his head to the side as he dodged in time while taking Karin up into his arms with him, only just for the hollow to come rushing past them and slammed against the ground.
Karin looked over as she spotted the hollow, turning to face them back. She gritted her teeth as she saw it begin to come sprinting at them again. “Hey, it's coming!” She yelled out, pointing towards it.
Listening to her, Chad look at the same direction that the girl had pointed at before running to the side as the hollow missed to catches them once again.
‘He can't see it that clearly, can he?’ Karin thought to herself as she gripped onto him. ‘But I’ll just need to direct him out of the Hollow's way, hoping to stall enough time for someone to come and help..’
This process would repeat for a few times, like a game of cat and mouse, between them and the monster itself.
Roaring in frustration and savagely, The hollow lunges and swung it's arm at them, succeeding in smacking them away as both Chad and Karin were knocked down to the dirty ground.
Karin grunted before wincing at the harsh impact she took, rubbing her head as she felt a bit fuzzy, then looking up as her eyes widened with fear.
She saw the hollow coming at her with it's jaws open wide.
Meanwhile soething surfaced within Chad's mind, an memory..
‘Did someone hit you again, Yasutora? What comes from hitting? You hurt that which hurts you.. Yasutora, You are strong. You are big, you are exquisite, you were born with everything that most people desired from God. Those who are different, are persecuted. I don't know how it is otherwise, But at least in this world, that is how it works. However Yasutora, you must be kind. For those large-strong hands of yours, for what sake do you have them.. find that out…’
‘I understand, Abuelo.. My giant body is for the sake of protecting others. I understand everything, I understand it all.‘ Chad thought, clenching his right fist as he was filled with resolve as he slowly standed up.
‘So.. even just a little, please.. lend me strength..’
Then Suddenly a blast of light and power shot out from a cloud of dust, obliterating the left arm of the hollow as it cried out in shock and pain.
Karin lifted her arm to block out the blinding light for a moment before slowly lowering it as her eyes widened In surprise at what she saw.
Seeing Chad stands there with the entirety of his right arm was different as wings on the sides of his wrist and a protrusion at the end of his shoulder, black with a magenta stripe going down the middle outlined in white.
The young Quincy of the Kurosaki family in question, felt her jaw drop in shock at the sight of what she was seeing, to which at first she thought she was hallucinating for a moment.
‘Just what is happening.. with that arm?’ Karin thought with shock and surprise. ‘This doesn't make sense…!!’
Soon she became alarmed when she saw the hollow got back up and was now charging towards the half-mexican. ‘It didn't take that thing down completely-?!’
“Hey look out-!” Karin yelled out, her hand reaction out towards the direction of where Chad was at.
The half-mexican didn't show signs of fear as the hollow was getting close towards him. Chad got into a fighting stance, reared his arm back, launching his fist towards at the incoming monster. His fist punched the Hollow's mask, Only for his arm to be covered a in bright light, before shooting out an energy blast that completely obliterate the Hollow's head.
‘N-no way..’ The young girl thought with shock, dumbly staring at what she had witnessed. ‘Just earlier, he couldn't see the hollow-?! What exactly had caused His Reiryoku to increase-?!’
As the smoke blows away, Chad turned half-way, silently looking at Karin before giving a thumbs up.
She stared at him blankly, especially witnessing the gesture. ‘Oh come on?! So uncool, seriously?!’ Karin thought in disbelief, her deadpan expression stared at the giant. ‘Giving an Okay sign? That's so corny!’
In the next anticlimax moment, Chad falls to the ground.
“H-hey! You're alright, right?!”
Karakura High-
“Geez..” Chizuru sighed in disappointment. “If I have to clean this up, then I shouldn't have come to see it at all..” She whined as she and Tatsuki went ahead to swept up shards of broken glass that littered the area itself. “The glass just broke from a fight in the Judo! While Us bystanders just caught up in it!”
“Quit whining and just help me sweep this up okay..?” Tatsuki grumbles, deadpanning at the perverted lesbian. “Those guys were just making excuses..”
“They must have been really angry since Their pathetic loss at the Tokyo completion.” “But you know, you seem defensive about them.. are those kind of sweaty groups, you're type?”
“What?!” Tatsuki growled out, leaning in close as her face was within inches away from Chizuru’s.
The two girls were glaring at each other tensely for a moment with the tension being very clear between each other.
“Argh, what the hell..” Chizuru shrugged her shoulders, breaking off from the staring contest, throwing the dust pan and sweeper away. “I’m just going home since this is ridiculous!”
“Huh-?! Hey! Wait a second, Chizuru!” The tomboy called out in protest, standing up straight on her feet, ready to chase after her.
The lesbian turned her attention to Orihime who was not too far behind, immediately the redhead got into a happier mood.
“Hime! Let's leave Tatsuki to do the clean up and go home together, Kay!” Chizuru happily said in a gushing tone, walking towards Orihime.
No response came from the orange haired girl but due to this, Chizuru gained an concern expression on her face as she came up to the girl's side.
“What’s wrong, Hime?” Chizuru asked, looking over at Orihime's face. “You're spacing out more than usual?”
Again, there was no response from the girl as she stared off at something unseen in the distance.
“While you're spacing out and all~! I'm going to give you twenty four hours of petting endurance while being tied up!”
“What the hell are you slipping out of your mouth?” Tatsuki asked from behind, with a strained smile as she angrily stared at the perverted girl.
The redhead lesbian snapped her head to face the tomboy as she looked at her defensively. “What?!” she cried out. “What did I say?”
“Tatsuki-chan, Chizuru-chan.”
The two girls looked at Orihime upon hearing her calling out their names, blinking as they waited for what she had to say.
“U-uh I-it’s nothing, actually I just remembered something! there's a show that I really wanted to see right now!” Orihime cheerfully said, turning her head to smile at both of them. “So I'm going to go home today."
““Eh?””
Without even giving them a chance to answer her, Orihime had her arms over their shoulders as she pulled them along with her. “Hey, I have a great idea! Let's all go home together instead!”
“Hey wait a second!” Tatsuki called out, a bit alarmed by the sudden mood from her best friend. “Orihime-!”
“H-hurry up now!” Orihime urges them on with a smile still plastered on her face with a bead of sweat sliding down at the side of her cheek.
‘So in short, Hollows are monstrous creatures, so they don't generally look the same.. however, if someone with a high reiryoku see them then It's best to stay away from them as much as you can.. Instead, You Run for your life..'
Orion's words echoed within Orihime's mind as her heart beat in fear, her heart beated in fear. Her body's instinct told her to run away and escape from that thing. She knew what she had seen was a hollow and she was the only one who could see it at this moment. Did that mean her Reiryoku had increased?
“Hurry up!” She called out to her friends, over her shoulder with a smile. “Let's go now-!”
Her eyes widened in alarm, once looking at the top of the building. ‘Where… it's gone?!’
That didn't bring her any comfort, if it's gone then it could be still somewhere near here. She has to get her friends out of here as quickly as possible right now!
Orihime whipped her head around with a distressed expression on her face. “Tatsuki-!”
It's still here.
That was the one thing her own body had told her. Slowly Orihime turned her head to look up from behind, only for her to see an octopus-like Hollow with it's mask resembles a jellyfish, with six appendages at the bottom and three circles of protrusions at the top, and has heart-shaped openings around the eyes as well as long teeth with no lips or gums.
The hollow was hanging above them all by using it's tendrils to hang onto the edges of the rooftops. “You can see me, don't you?” It had spoken out in a withered, vile female voice.
“Uh Orihime, What are you looking at?” Chizuru piped up, tilting her head to the side, looking clueless.
“Tatsuki-chan Chizuru-chan!” Orihime shouted out desperately. “Hurry and run!”
“‘Run’?” The hollow mockingly said. “what are you talking about, huh?”
Suddenly it tilted downwards before a barrage of things began shooting out of the Hollow's ‘head’ as it rained down like a fire of bullets upon the girls.
Without thinking, Orihime grabbed Chizuru by the shoulder and dive towards the ground as those same projectiles broke through the glass with ease. The barrages of seeds just kept coming Until-
“Susanoo!!”
Suddenly an white flaming-like upper half of a skeleton manifested around them as The Skeleton susanoo raised it's arms up and folded them together like an X. The projectiles hitted against the Susanoo but they either bounced off or just crumbled against it's defenses.
Orihime was left in awe and relief, recognizing what it was. She turned around to see her crush standing behind her. “Orion-kun!”
Orion had a stern look, angrily staring at the hollow itself. “Sorry, if I'm late and all.” He apologized sincerely, cracking his knuckles. “But it seems like I made it in the nick of time.”
“Orion?!” Chizuru was flabbergasted at what she was seeing, letting out a gasp of shock as she frantically looked around at the sight of the Susanoo. “H-huh?! What is this?!”
“No time to explain.” The Quincy said, not bothering to look at them. “It seems we got company..”
As he said this, the group found themselves surrounded by the other students, each one with a seed sticking out of their bodies. The Quincy of the group had a grim look on his face, quickly realizing that the hollow was controlling them through the things it had shot out.
“Well, well isn't this a surprise?” The hollow behind this, spoke as it came down to ground level with the controlled students approaching towards the Susanoo. “let's see if you can handle being killed by your own classmates or kill them yourselves..!!”
‘Damnit! I can't hurt these pricks!’ Orion thought in frustration. ‘The Susanoo will obviously kill them with it's fists, right now All I can do is to try and get those with me out of here.. then I'll come back here to deal with this thing-!’
“What the hell do you guys think you're doing!?!”
Tatsuki screamed out, coming out from tn side as she landed a kick against one of the controlled students, sending them away with such force coming from that kick of hers.
“What the-?! You can see it..?!” The teen sputtered at what she did, while Orihime smiled brightly at her friend.
“Not exactly..” Tatsuki spoke up with a concentrated look on her face as she punched another one of the students away from them. “But I roughly know where it is. I know where the one who made Orihime scared is!”
Orion gritted his teeth, glaring at Tatsuki. “You can't possibly try and fight it off on your own..!” He protests at her.
“Well got any better ideas on getting out of here?” Tatsuki argued back. “Besides, the thing that is protecting you, Orihime and Chizuru, look like it could kill these guys if it's ain't careful right? And we need to help these other guys too, remember?!”
That shut him up as the teen looked away with an annoyed look on his face but admitted to himself that she was right about that.
“Don’f forget that Since The old days, I have always been the one who beat the sh*t out of those who made Orihime cry!” Tatsuki declared, getting into an fighting stance before launching out a series of attacks at the incoming mindless students.
“Go Tatsuki!” Chizuru cheered on from behind Orion and Orihime as the latter shared the lesbian's excitement.
‘Well… she is handling this quite well..’ Orion let out a sigh, observing the fight. ‘Then again, most of these guys don't have much strength in them.. They all should be knocked out in a bit.’
He needed the tomboy just to buy enough time. The teen figured that he couldn't use The Susanoo for offense considering the other students here. He could see the hollow hiding behind the masses of students who it got control over.
It was very frustrating for him to say the least. He couldn't risk injuring the students who are being controlled against their will, nor could he use the Susanoo for offensive purposes. If Tatsuki could take out enough students or at least drag theirs and the Hollow's attention away from them, then maybe he could fire a shot at said hollow.
Not to mention, the feeling of pain he have, was getting a bit annoying at this point. He can't have the Susanoo activated forever but he knows he have to do something soon.
‘That Brat abilities…’ The Hollow, Numb-Chandelier, thought to herself in annoyance. Her gaze lingering at the sight of the Susanoo as an idea pop up In the hollow’s mind, it let out a sinister chuckle. ‘I need to get that brat to stop then..’
“Cmon now!” Tatsuki shouted, after effortlessly beating down another guy. “Bring on stronger guys than these chumps!”
“Uhh.. Tatsuki?” Chizuru nervously called out, suddenly having a bad feeling about this.
‘Tatsuki!? Don't provoke it, you idiot!’ Orion internally screamed, wanting to rip out his hair. ‘You going to just-!’
“You’re quite the lively one, aren't you?” The Hollow spoke with a hint of sad*stic amusem*nt. “That’s fine, the livelier a girl's face, the prettier it it's when contorots into tears~!”
Suddenly the guys who were beaten by Tatsuki herself, just got back up and surrounded the girl.
“What-?!” Tatsuki turned her head in disbelief as she raised her arm prepared to fight back. “f*ck, They're still coming…!”
“Argghh-!!”
Sounds of a girl choking caught the attention of everyone, turning their gazes to see a female student was choking herself with her own hands as tears leaked down from her tears. “H-help m-m-me-!” She wheezed out, struggling to breath.
Orihime let out a gasp as she covered her mouth with hands, being disturbed at the sight along with Chizuru who had a frozen look of fear for the girl as she felt the same as well.
Orion and Tatsuki looked on in horror with both expressions perfectly mirroring each other. Feeling the instinct to go and try to help the poor girl.
‘This isn't good-! How come I didn't think of that possibility?’ The Quincy internally cursing himself. ‘No, All of these students are hostages from the moment they have been hit. If someone tries something against the hollow directly, it might just make the students kill themselves…!?!’
“Tatsuki-chan!” Orihime screamed out. “Look out!”
Being on edge, The tomboy quickly turned around only to be grabbed by multiple hands from the controlled students, pinning her down to the ground as a result of restraining her as she struggled to move.
“sh*t! Get the hell off of me!” Tatsuki cursed out, trying to get them off of her. She thrashed back and forth as she lifted up her head Only for the hollow, having unleashed another barrage of seeds that was heading straight at her.
She didn't see them coming as multiple of those seeds shot straight at her, hitting her body at different parts. With bits of blood spilling out before staining the ground, beneath her, to red.
Chizuru screamed out in terror, falling back on the ground as her eyes trembled with fear. “N-no..!” She cried out in shock to see Tatsuki injured. “Tatsuki!”
‘Crap..!’
“Hoho~! Soon the seeds will take root and her control over her body will be transferred to me..!” Numb-Chandelier boasted. “Her fate lies upon me to decide~! If you don't want her to drop dead, then dissolve that thing that is around you all!”
Orion gritted his teeth, the veins around his forehead throbbed tensely with anger boiling his blood. He can't deactivated the Susanoo or else, Chizuru and Orihime would be in danger, the moment the hollow shot it's seeds at them.
But he can't let Tatsuki get even more hurt or worse, even die as a result of any of them making a mistake. His heart raced in a rapid pace within his chest as He glared at the hollow, wanting to rip it to pieces.
“How should I decide her death if you fail to comply, I wonder? Oh I know! Perhaps suicide in the-!”
“Shut up..”
“What..?” The hollow questioned, turning her focus to Tatsuki who was shaking not in fear but in pure rage.
“I SAID SHUT UP!” The Tomboy screamed out. “Like Hell, I won't let myself be used as a bargaining chip for you to use against my friends!” Tatsuki roared out as she forcefully stood up before knocking the controlled students off of her as she seethed in rage with her eyes having a burning determination within them. “I'm going to kick your ass instead!”
Tatsuki begins charging towards the hollow with whatever control she has left over her body as she run through the masses of students being controlled, knocking them down to the floor.
‘This is it..!’ Orion immediately manifested a bow out of Reishi as he pulled the string back. ‘Steady now..!’
At the same time, Tatsuki lunged at the hollow before landing a strike against Numb-Chandelier’s mask as she bit down on one of the Hollow's tentacles out of spite.
“LET GO OF ME, YOU LITTLE!” Numb-Chandelier cried out in rage, trying to shake off the Tomboy who continues to throw her punches and strikes at said hollow. “I SAID LET GO OF ME-!”
‘Now!’ The teen quickly fired a bow of reishi as it shot out of the Susanoo before firing through the air, heading towards the hollow itself.
The hollow shot out a barrage of seeds at Tatsuki which one of them hitted her in the face, sending her away before the Reishi arrow came flying and pierced three of Numb-Chandelier's tentacles, severing them off in one strike.
“AARGGHHH!!!!?!!!-!!” Numb-Chandelier shrieked out in pain, backing away as it's own blood squirted to the ground. As many of the helpless controlled students formed an barrier around the hollow, hidden it from sight as it continues to screamed out. “CURSE YOU! CURSE YOU ALL YOU DAMN BRATS!”
Within the Skeleton Susanoo, The Quincy just grimaced at the curses from the hollow While Orihime looked past and saw Tatsuki laying on the ground, seemingly unconsciously and bleeding out. “Ta-tatsuki-chan!” She worriedly cried out, running out of The Susanoo and heading towards her.
Orion tried to stop her with his hand but missed her by an inch. “Orihime!” He yelled out after her.
“Hime-! Wait, it's not safe out there!” Chizuru cried out, reaching out her hand as her arm shakily trembled.
Arriving at where her best friend was, Orihime knelt to the ground on her knees as she placed her hands on the tomboy's side. “Tatsuki!-!” She frantically shouted, her eyes looking over the wounds her friend has sustained.
“N-no..” Tatsuki weakly said as that last barrage had her taken heavy damage. “just run and get out of here…”
“No, Don't say that!” Orihime pleaded with her desperately. “I won't abandon you..!”
“Just run…” The tomboy quietly said in a weak tone before falling unconscious with her eyes closed shut.
Orihime’s heart almost stopped in fear as she shakes Tatsuki's shoulders trying to keep her awake. “Tatsuki-chan!” She called out. “Please stay with me..!”
While she focused on doing this, she didn't notice that the black-haired tomboy legs began moving on their own as they begin to try and stand up.
Sensing something was wrong by the time that Orion had quickly noticed this as he realized this wasn't the movements of his friend, with his instincts screaming at him to do something, to which he did. The teen turned to look at Chizuru with a hard and stern gaze.
“Sorry about this..” Orion quickly apologized to her for what he was about to do. “But I can't afford to be hindered back and have you get hitted by the hollow as well..”
“Huh-?” Chizuru was cut off when Orion had placed his hand on her with his Mangekyou Sharingan activated before the redhead lesbian was sucked in by a vortex via Kamui.
Now feeling much better about this, immediately he went into taking his chance with The teen himself had already ran forward as the Susanoo dissipated away.
Meanwhile, now stopping in her attempts to keep Tatsuki away, Orihime couldn't help but feel a sense of surprise and worry as she saw the Tomboy seemingly get onto hands and knees.
“...Tatsuki-chan?” The oranged haired girl spoke in a tone of concern and worry.
The tomboy didn't respond at first, her eyes open as there was a mindless look in her eyes but suddenly she launched a kick towards Orihime's stomach that was within inches to be assaulted.
Orihime could only look in shock as she barely saw the kick as it came at her.
But unexpectedly feeling a pair of arms wrapped around her as Orihime was lifted up in a swift manner before the kick could even hit her. The girl now finding herself in the arms of Orion who he and she were now a few feet away from Tatsuki.
The teen didn't look at her but kept his gaze upon the figure of Tatsuki. “Are you okay?” He asked her with his grip firm yet gentle.
“Yes!” Orihime nodded, turning her head to look at Tatsuki. “But what about Chizuru-chan-?”
“Don't worry, I got her to safety.” He answered before settling her down behind a corner of one of the school's buildings in order to keep her out of the Hollow's shooting range and capabilities. “Please let me handle this, and get yourself to safety.”
“Orion-kun..”
Orion stands back on his feet, turning away from her, manifesting a sword out of reishi as his grip tightens around the sword's handle. “I'll be fine, as I'll also make sure that Tatsuki will be alright. I swear on it.”
And so, without saying another word to her, the teen sped off as he ran through the crowd of students, their bodies being controlled by Numb-Chandelier. Orion's Mangekyou Sharingan kept track of theirs and the Hollow's movements.
“Come here, you little brat!” Numb-Chandelier yelled out before shooting another barrage of seeds from the forehead,at the teen.
Immediately deflecting every one of those seeds with the aid of his blade as fast as he could. The teen leaps up into the air as he swung down his blade towards the hollow. But dodges to the side, avoiding a tentacle that almost collided into him.
The teen lands on his feet upon standing on top of the ground surface. He swiftly maneuvered through the crowd while avoiding the incoming barrage of seeds that kept being fired at him.
“Stop running, You little sh*t-!” The hollow demanded, frustrated by trying to have her seeds hit the teen. The creature only got more frustrated as it saw the teen dodging and knocking down those, it had control over their bodies, with ease like they were nothing.
Peeking over the building’s corner, Orihime watches him going against the hollow as she bit her lower lip in worry. After her brother died, Tatsuki, Orion, Ichigo and many other of her friends, those who she cared about had looked after her. Because of them, she had faith, not only in herself but in others too.
Only the three years, not only Tatsuki had protected her, but Orion had been there to support her especially during the timing of Sora's death. His help had kept her from breaking down that night.
But now Tatsuki is injured because her protecting her and Orion is out there fighting against the hollow who had hurted her best friend, doing it for the same reason as well.
‘This time…’ Orihime's eyes watered as she looked over at Tatsuki whose body is under the Hollow's control. ‘I will be able to protect them instead...!’ She thought with a fierce determination fueling her which was also reflected in her eyes.
Her hairpins begin gleam suddenly and break into six projectiles, which begin whirling around Orihime at high blurring speeds as one of them shot out, passing by Orion before heading towards and striked at Numb-Chandelier whose part of it's mask got chipped off due to the strike.
Numb-Chandelier was shock at this unexpected development, so much so that it went silent.
Orion blinks in surprise and shock as he lands on top of a trash bin before turning to look at Orihime in question.
Stepping out of the smoke, Orihime had an firm and determined look on her face. “I will not forgive you, the one who has hurted Tatsuki-chan!” She declared fiercely.
His heart skip a beat as Orion looked up and something else. ‘What the f*ck..?’ He thought to himself. “Who are they?!”
There was a silent pause coming from her briefly as Orihime seemed to finally notice it. “Oh!” She looked at the six spirits with a childlike wonder. “Who are you..?”
“Hello there, Orihime!” one of the spirits greeted her. “We are The Shun Shun Rikka! And we're your power!”
This seemed to make Orihime curious while Orion had a dumbfounded look on his face, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
“Wait a second-! How did you come into being?” Orion called out from where he was standing, as his eyebrows furrowed together.
“Well-!”
“Hey!” Another one of the spirits interrupted, an rough looking one came near Orihime's face. “There's no need for introductions here since there is a battle going on here!”
“Oh right-!” Orion let out a gasp as he immediately ducked his head, avoiding the incoming other tentacle as he completely forgets on where he was.
“DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE Me!” The hollow roared out in anger while rapidly shooting out seeds at the teen.
‘sh*t..!’ Orion dodged the barrage of seeds that shot out like bullets from a machine gun as he swung his blade side to side swiftly, defecting the projectiles while avoiding the controlled students who came at him as well.
“Orion-kun!” Orihime let out a gasp, a wave of concern washed over her.
“Focus on me! If you want to help your friend. Then Right now, you need to know how to handle us! Our power is the ability to build a ‘shield’ and ‘repel’!” The Rough looking spirit informed her.
Many of the other six spirits nodded in agreement with him. “Just listen to our instructions and repeat after us, okay?” The pink haired spirit told her with a smile.
Back with the teen, Orion dodged another barrage of seeds as they broke through the window behind him, causing more glass to shatter. The Quincy leaped into the air as he took a deep breath, molding his chakra from within and spat out a stream of fire at the hollow.
‘WHAT?!’ Numb-Chandelier thought in terror, backing away from the flames that now came at it's previous spot of where it's was.
“Afraid of a little fire, huh?” Orion spoke with a grim look on his face after landing back on the ground. “There’s more where that came from.”
Swiftly, The teen ran towards the hollow with his weapon in hand, raising the blade to land a strike on the creature.
A various number of seeds were rapidly shooted at the teen by Numb-Chandelier, trying to stop him from coming any closer. Expecting this to happen, Orion maneuvered around the hollow while maintaining an running speed to outrun the incoming projectiles as The Quincy jumped off the ground into the air before diving towards the hollow, with his blade at the ready.
‘No….!’ The Hollow thought in denial, refusing to be slain right here as it rapidly shot out another barrage of seeds at the Quincy.
Orion eyes widened as before he could think, his body acted on human-instinct as it tried to move to the side while still high in the air.
“Santen Kesshun, i reject!”
Suddenly a glowing triangular shield came in place between the hollow and the Quincy, surprising both the former and the latter.
Orion glanced out of the corner of his eye, to see Orihime standing there about a few feet behind him with her arms stretched out. The Quincy couldn't let out a faint smile before turning his attention back to the hollow as He utilized Kamui, phasing through the glowing barrier before forming an spiralling ball of chakra in his other hand.
“Spiralkugel!” Orion yelled out, swinging down the spiraling sphere as it smashed against the top of the Hollow's mask.
“Urggh-!” Numb-Chandelier cried out in pain as one of it's tentacles tried to take a swing at the teen.
But the teen quickly sliced down his blade, severing the tentacle off before landing on top of the hollow as he swiftly impaling his blade into one of the Hollow's eye sockets.
“RAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH-!!” The hollow let out a scream, thrashing side to side In an frenzy causing the teen to hold onto the handle of the blade. “YOU LITTLE f*ckER-! I'LL GET YOU! YOU! YOU YOU!-”
Numb-Chandelier ramblings became nothing more than primitive sounds as all of the hollow tentacles immediately lunged towards the teen with heavy murderous intent leaking out.
“Tch..!” Orion grunted, his gaze quickly looking between each tentacle coming at him as his grip tightened before ripping his blade out of the Hollow's eye socket as he jumped high into the air, hoping to get out of the tentacle's range in time.
“Koten Zanshun, I reject." Orihime yelled out, pointing her hand at the Hollow as Tsubaki silently headed straight through into the Hollow's mouth before suddenly a glowing shield appeared from within and split the monster in half.
“Oh…” The Hollow managed to say after a moment of shock, before beginning to disappear into nothingness.
Seeing this, The Quincy lands on the ground safely as his blade dissolved into sparks of reishi while letting out a breath of air, feeling relief to know that it was over and the other students were at least safe now.
“Huh…huh…” Orihime let out a few heavy breaths as she stared at where the hollow used to be. “I did it?” She said out loud in wonder.
“Seems so.” Orion would answered, before glancing out of the corner of his eyes and spotted the unconscious Tatsuki laying on the ground.
Orihime followed his gaze as she let out a realization gasp, the girl would quickly run over to her best friend. “Tatsuki-chan-!” She knelt down and held out her hands, as she opened her mouth about to say something.
“Hold on.”
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she looked to the side and saw The Quincy was the one who placed his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. “You shouldn't push yourself further, especially with a power you have just gotten. Right?” He added with a knowing look.
“But Tatsuki-chan..”
“I got it.” He interrupted, sparing a glance at Tatsuki’s form. “Everything will be fine. Her wounds looks worse than it is.” The Quincy comforted her in a reassuring tone.
He knelt down on his knees next to Tatsuki as Green chakra had begun covered his hands as he placed them down on Tatsuki's body in a respectful manner. The Quincy concentrated, pouring a rightful balance of chakra into this.
After a long moment had passed, Orihime watched in fascination, seeing Tatsuki's injuries slowly sealed up and faded away as the Tomboy started to look in good condition with the exception of a few light bruises.
“There.” Orion spoke in a quiet and reserved tone as his hands stopped glowing In green chakra. “I'll manage to heal most of the damage but otherwise she'll be fine, with the exception of bruises and-”
He was cut off by Orihime who wrapped her arms around and hugged him softly with a happy smile on her face. “Thank you.” She whispers in a graceful tone.
Surprised by the gesture but his neutral expression offers a smile in return. “You're welcome.” He responded back calmly.
But he remembers something as his eyes widened a bit. “Oh right, Hold on I'll be back.” He told her before disappearing via vortex.
Orihime blinks in surprise, looking around to see where he go. But in another moment, the Quincy reappeared via Kamui but with Chizuru in hand.
“Here we go.” Orion casually said as he looked over at the lesbian. “Hope I didn't take too long.”
“Urgghh..” Chizuru groaned, looking incredible nausea before her eyes rolled to the back of her skull as she passed out, falling back but was catched by the Quincy who prevented her fall.
The teen sighed in disappointment at himself mostly. “Of course, I forgot that Kamui leaves that effect on people.” He mutters, shaking his head.
She giggled at the expression on her face as Orihime smiled brightly before watching him putting Chizuru down next to Tatsuki. “Are you going now..?” She asked curiosity, tilting her head to the side.
Orion nodded grimly, looking off to the side and staring in the distance. “There were more of these hollows spread throughout the city, I suggest that you take Tatsuki and Chizuru to The Kurosaki Clinic and fast, you three will be safe there.”
“Okay.” Orihime nodded, her hands fidgeting with each other. “But please be careful.” She told him in a worried tone.
“I will.”
With that, Orion turned away and disappeared from sight through a swirling vortex via Kamui once again.
Karakura Hospital-
A hollow ran through the streets, looking for it's prey as it lets out a screeching roar.
“Aggggghhhhh-!”
However an arrow made out of reishi shot through the hollow, cutting off its screeches as it disappeared. Up above from one of the Karakura hospital window's, Ryūken lowered his bow, his stoic gaze never changing but softened a bit as He looked over to his wife.
“Are you alright..?”
Kanae would offer a reassuring smile to him. “Yes dear, I'm fine.” She softly said, while her hand rubbed her pregnant-belly rather soothingly.
Ryūken nodded at her before staring back at the window. His eyes narrowed in deep thought, having one thought about what possibly could have caused this.
“Hollow bait.”
Those words left his mouth as the Elder Quincy of the Ishida family frowned deeply. From the people he knows, no one was that foolish enough to do something like this but who exactly was it that used Hollow bait in particular?
-----
Empty Park-
Ichigo found himself being flanked by hollows from all sides as the teen gritted his teeth, raising his blade up in retaliation. “You bastards want it, then come and get it!” He yelled, swinging his Zanpakutō to the side, slicing it across a mask belonging to a hollow.
Suddenly an arrow made out of reishi came flying out of nowhere, and struck through one of the hollows mask's.
Looking over to see Uryū standing there with a Heilig Bogen. “Seems like you needed assistance.” He spoke with an unimpressed look on his face.
“yeah well, More talking, more fighting.” Ichigo shouted, gripping the handle of Zangetsu. The strawberry teen continued to fight off the hollows near him as Uryū joined in the fight with him.
The two teenagers slay down the hollows that came into their path from either side, as many of them kept coming at them.
“Any idea on who the hell used Hollow bait?!” The hybrid yelled his question out, kicking a small hollow away after striking its mask in half.
Uryū didn't answer at first, busy shooting out arrows of reishi at the hollows from his side. “I'm afraid not.” He stated grimly. “But we can't afford to let these things go unnoticed or else the people we want to protect will be in danger.”
“No need to say that twice, Uryū.”
Both ichigo and Uryū looked behind to see Orion coming out of a vortex via Kamui as the newly arrived Quincy swung down his blade, cutting an Hollow's mask in half. “Let’s deal with these monsters as fast as we can, shall we?” Orion said with a stoic look, but his eyes held a fierce rage that burned within him
Uryū nodded formally while Ichigo smirked in agreement. As the trio began their attack upon the Hollow once more, Uryū prepared his bow for another onslaught as Ichigo flared up his Reiatsu, making the hollows around to quiver in fear as the strawberry teen lunges at them with Zangetsu in hand.
With the aid of the Mangekyou Sharingan and Kamui, Orion swiftly swung his blade through each other hollow he came across as he maintained his impassive demeanor, not showing any reaction to each hollow he struck down.
Orion stopped as he landed on top of a bench, noticing The remaining hollows began to sing some kind of macabre song of praise. “Are you seeing what I'm seeing?” He asked out loud, never looking away from the sight.
“It’s as if they're praying to something..” Uryū remarked, on guard as his hands clenched tensely.
“That's doesn't reassure me..” Ichigo mutters with a scowl appearing on his face.
‘Oh sh*t, get ready Kingy!’
‘You know what's happening, Zangetsu?!’
‘Hell yeah I do, and it's a big one!’
Just then, a dimensional tear had appeared in the sky as The Menos Grande came through it with it's unnatural, long nosed mask staring down at them, coming through from the tear.
“What..?!” Uryū looked at the Gillian with his eyes widened slightly. “That's a Gillian..”
‘Kingy, Meet the Official most biggest-dumbest and weakest class of the Menos Grande.’
‘Ichigo, The situation had become complicated from the moment that Gillian had arrived…’
Ichigo grimaced at the words from Zangetsu and Old man-Zangetsu. “If this thing is here, then where the other Shinigami to deal with this thing?..”
“I think they're about to prove The Quincy's point of being extremely late..” Orion dryly said with an annoyed look. “We need to deal with that.”
“But we're occupied with these guys!” Ichigo grunted, kicking an hollow away before slicing it's mask in half with his Zanpakutō.
Orion frowned slightly, looking down at his hand. “I got an idea..” He utters, remembering a detail from his fight with Zērō. “I think we can deal with these guys in a quick second.”
“Yeah right..!”
The teen rolling his eyes at the sarcastic response coming from ichigo as Orion took a deep breath, entering a state and demeanor of calmness.
Focusing on the two images of water and earth in his mind The teen slammed his hand down on the ground as he concentrated deeply with him molding and pouring his chakra into this move he was performing. As formation of cracks appeared on the ground beneath where the hollows were standing at, Until multiple treelike-roots came bursting out of the ground and pierced through the Hollow's and their masks.
The hollows let out gurgled sounds before they crumpled and disappeared from sight as Ichigo and Uryū looked a bit dumbfounded from this move.
Orion shifted his focus towards the gigantic hollow as the teen narrowed his eyes, observing it.
“Well, Well, seems like you got it covered.”
Turning around only to see Kisuke standing there with Tessai, Jinta, Ururu and surprisingly Frieda although she had an darkened expression on her face as it looks like she was reluctantly holding herself back.
“Terrible timing you have here, Mr hats and Clogs.” Ichigo utters dryly, still staring at the Gillian with a hard stare.
“Yes, well..” Kisuke cheerfully chuckled. “We had a couple of unexpected pit stops.”
“Tch.” Frieda scoffed at the man's words, glaring at the shopkeeper with a rising level of hate.
“Uh.. is it supposed to be doing that?” Jinta coughed awkwardly, pointing at where the Gillian was at.
Turning to see what it was, the group saw that there were signs of spiritual energy being concentrated at the mouth of The Gillian's mask, before they know it, a Cero was fired out as a powerful red bean blast which came straight at them.
Ichigo saw this as he quickly got in front of everyone while raising his blade up, preparing on trying to deflect the blast off.
While Orion eyes widened with his fists clenched tightly with his nails piercing into his flesh to the point where blood dripped from the palms, showing how tense and afraid for his friend's lives. Something snapped within him, As immediately the jagged lines of Blut vene covered the entirety of Orion before extending out through his hands, it's pattern connecting to the surface before creating a large spherical forcefield-barrier around him and those near him.
‘It can't be..!’ Frieda thought with shock coursing through her as she thought it was something she would never see again. ‘Blue Vene Anhaben..!’
The barrier had formed exactly at the same time when the Cero had come within close range and had struck the forcefield like lightning itself. The blast was certainly disintegrating bits of The Blut but it wasn't enough to destroy it.
Looking to be frustrated, Orion took a deep breath, molding the chakra from within his body, before he spat out a giant fireball which headed out through the barrier and struck the mid section of the Gillian, causing it to have the red beam to cease fire as the gigantic hollow let out a screech of sorts.
The barrier faded as Orion let out a few deep breaths while the shock stares was evident on those around him.
‘I have never seen Blut vene do that before..’ Ichigo thought with shock written all over his face. ‘Just what the hell..?’
‘What exactly was that..?’ Uryū stared deeply at the back of Orion's head. ‘Was Blut vene always capable of being used like that..?’
“Anyone got any bright ideas on how to stop that thing?” Orion asked while breathing heavily, looking at Uryū and Ichigo.
Snapping out of his state of stock while realizing the dreadful situation they were still in, Uryū frowned for a moment, suddenly an idea popped into his head. His eyes widened before turning to look at the two. “I think I know a way that can allow us to beat it..”
Kurosaki Clinic-
“There you go.”
Masaki's voice spoke with a hint of kindness as she walked into the living area before she passed a cup of tea to Orihime who sat on the couch.
“Thank you so much, Mrs Kurosaki.” Orihime thanked her with a bright smile before taking a sip from the cup.
“Your welcome, Inoue.” The Quincy woman replied with a bright smile of her own. “You don't have to worry now since Your friends are in safe hands now..”
Feeling reassured by the woman's words, Orihime closed her eyes with a happy expression on her face. “I’m so glad that Tatsuki-chan will be alright.” She expressed her relief through her words.
Masaki nodded, sharing the girl's sentiment, she turned her attention to the other guest laying on the other part of the couch. “And I like to express my thanks again for saving one of my daughters.” She said with a look of gratitude.
Resting while laying on the part of the couch, Chad didn't say anything but just lifted his arm and gave a thumbs up to the Matriarch of the Kurosaki family.
“Tch, Idiot.” Karin grumbles underneath her breath while sitting against the side of the couch.
Laughing softly at what she said, Masaki lovingly patted her daughter's head. “Now now, Be nice. Karin..” She playfully chided her child.
“Yes mommy.”
Orihime beamed happily at the moment shared between mother and daughter. It warmed her heart to see such a special relationship between a parent and a child. The girl looked down at the tea cup, seeing her reflection as a look of worry appeared on her face, upon thinking about him.
As if sensing her worry, Masaki turned to look at Orihime with an understanding look. “Don’t worry, the boys can handle themselves.” She spoke in a motherly-reassuring tone.
“I know, Mrs Kurosaki.” Orihime nodded, remembering how Orion had fought. “I-i couldn't help but worry..” She confessed, putting her tea cup on the small table in front of her, before her fingers fidgeted with each other.
Masaki sighed faintly out of nostalgia, suddenly being reminded of the times of where she watched and worried over her children. But she understands what the teenage girl is going through, the feeling of being worried for the ones who you cherished deeply.
If she could, she wanted her children to stay children, so she could always protect their Innocence. It was a thought that often come back to her at times, how she wished that her children could live a normal life as humans. But reality proved her wrong when that fateful day had happened years ago.
“Mmm..” Masaki hummed faintly, before grinning in a teasing manner as an idea popped up in her head. “I know how it is to worry over Your boyfriend.”
“W-what-?!” Orihime yelped in surprise, her face immediately blushed and turned pure red with white steam coming out of her ears as she stuttered. “B-Boyfriend?!” She squeaked out, being very flustered while filled with whole new levels of embarrassment.
The matriarch of the Kurosaki family could only let out a small playful laugh at the girl's reaction, shaking her head while watching the teenage girl become a blushing mess. Masaki smiled, before turning her head to look at one of the picture frames that contained an family photo of all of them, including Orion.
She'll always cherish the memories she had with her family..
“This is such a bad idea..”
Orion mutters under his breath as he had both of his hands placed on Uryū and Ichigo's shoulders.
“Oh yeah..? Do you have a better idea to share with us? Because We have no choice here.” Ichigo responded with a grunt. “Plus I can't take the risk of using a full Getsuga Tenshō, since we both know it's capabilities.”
“Oh, right..”
“If you two are done bickering with each other.” Uryū interrupted, glaring at the two. “We need to focus on the matter at hand..”
“Right, sorry..” Orion nodded, grunting in agreement before closing his eyes. “C'mon then.”
Ichigo grimly nodded, before manifesting his bow of reishi as he got into the proper footing, his hand reaching out before pulling the string back, matching Uryū's stance.
Orion takes a deep breath before he focuses deeply as portions of his chakra begin to transfer into Uryū and Ichigo, through both of his arms.
‘Is this what Orion had always felt…?!’ Uryū eyes widened, feeling the unfamiliar energy being poured into his body. ‘Not only that but.. I can feel bits of Orion's Reiryoku pouring in..’
‘So this is chakra huh..?’ Ichigo wondered to Himself. ‘Now I know why Hats and Clogs calls it to be so complicated..’
Once Orion had slowly begins to stop transferring his chakra while both of the bows, that were wielded by Ichigo and Uryū, began to become larger before suddenly being coated in hostile lightning due to Orion's chakra and Reiryoku.
“Ready, Uryū?” Ichigo asked his cousin, aiming his bow at the Gillian's head.
Uryū nodded, the sunlight reflecting off his glasses, adding a flare of coolness to him. “I am. Ichigo.”
“Just do it and make sure you guys hit it in a clean shot.” Orion told them, his gaze coldly staring up at the Gillian.
“Double Thundering Pfeil!”
Ichigo and Uryū yelled out at the same time as both electric arrows were shot by the two, as they pierced through the air like lightning, rotating around each other while still heading straight for the gigantic hollow's mask.
The lightning chakra from both arrows, connected with it each other while engulfing the two arrows as the chakra itself molded and formed into an japanese head of a dragon which snarled as it continues it's path.
The chakra-reishi infused attack struck the Gillian, causing The top half of it to be blasted away completely in an huge explosion of lightning with a thunder sound echoing throughout the sky.
The rest of the gigantic hollow start to dissipate, causing the trio down below to look on in victory.
“Ha!” Ichigo raises his arm in triumph with a grin on his face. “I can't believe we did it..!”
Uryū pushed his glasses up, sharing Ichigo's feelings on the matter. “Indeed.” He spoke formally, nodding in agreement. “I didn't expect my idea would work under such circ*mstances.”
“Circ*mstance or not.” Orion said, glancing at the heir of the Ishida bloodline. “We managed to prevent a catastrophe, that's for sure.”
“True..” Ichigo looked up towards where the black rift used to be in the sky.
Orion hummed softly in deep thought, his head moving halfway to the side as his gaze looked out of the corner of his eyes towards an squashed fly on the ground. His gaze narrowed in consideration before shaking his head.
“Let's go home..”
-Ichigo's Inner World-
Standing on the ledge of a skyscraper that was among countless other skyscrapers, Zangetsu and Old-man Zangetsu stand side by side as the two look up at the sky.
“Heh, Kingy and his friends had done it.” Zangetsu grinned, having the blade he was wielding over his shoulder. “Of course, it was just the weakest one they dealt with.”
“Regardless, They managed to defeat it.” Old-man Zangetsu spoke, his impassive gaze never sparing a glance to the hollow.
“Yeah right.” Zangetsu rolled his eyes, his free hand pointing to the side. “if it wasn't for this one here with us, then I wouldn't have easily agreed to the idea they all used involving that ‘chakra’...”
Old-man Zangetsu didn't respond, instead his eyes spared a glance at a third unknown individual who wore an white long hooded-cloak as they were standing at the other side of the Skyscraper…
