32 It's decided.

Chapter Thirty Two. (Edited by CDoggo).

''How troublesome.'' Mayuri was having quite a hard time, after all he had been quite sure that all of the bombs he had set within his subordinates should have all exploded within a single detonation, but for some reason one of his now deformed subordinates had somehow managed to survive.

''Captain! This isn't what we agreed upon!'' The young male soul reaper was covered in burn marks all over his skin, and while he screamed at his captain in search of an explanation, he looked with his one remaining eye at the wall of flames behind him, where the corpses of his friends should be in.

''...'' The weird looking captain just remained quiet while looking at his subordinate that kept approaching him, who seemed to be on the verge of tears.

''... Our role was just talk to them, then bring them back to quarters!'' The soul reaper kept walking towards his once trusted superior with heavy steps, making his best to stand despite his wounds.

''No, no.'' Mayuri talked at last, tilting his head to the side while smiling at the desperation with which his subordinate approached him, and without waiting he grabbed a certain thing from the inside of his white haori. ''A released bomb shouldn't return.''

The object he was holding in his hand was a detonator, and so without bothering to explain his actions, he pushed the detonator's button and yet again his last remaining low ranking squad member exploded, leaving nothing but a wall of fire behind.

''Much better.'' Mayuri said at last, focusing his attention on the trail of smoke that covered his vision and made him unable to see the result of his first attack.

Behind the captain's back, the figure of a young woman was standing in silence behind him, the badge tied to her right arm identified her as the lieutenant of squad twelve.

''...'' Whatever her personal feelings might have been, her face remained blank despite the brutal acts of her superior.

The smoke vanished at last, revealing the form of a golden shield, and much to the two soul reapers' surprise, the still relatively unharmed form of both of the intruders.

. . .

''Hey! Come back here, we are still not done talking!'' Ichigo shouted at the retreating figure of his friend, who had decided to end their conversation there. ''Hey, Kuromiya! Yoruichi, aren't you gonna stop him!?''

''Stop him? He's going to do whatever he wants, it doesn't matter what I tell him.'' Yoruichi argued back, shrugging her shoulders at the retreating figure of the boy. ''What's more, I think he's right. You are in no condition to go there and his set of abilities is the most efficient when dealing with this kind of situation.''

''But…''

''Trust me, I'll deal with it.'' Kuromiya said, stopping right at the door of the room just to leave a few last words of reassurance. ''I'll be back alongside them in an instant, so you two take a rest and leave it to me.''

''Yes, yes…'' Yoruichi replied while deciding to heed his advice, there was no denying that she was in need of some sleep, her mind had been in overload ever since arriving at the Soul Society, since she understood the dangers that awaited for them in there more than anyone else. ''Just make sure you come back unharmed.''

''Defeating a captain and coming back relatively unharmed, got it!'' He replied without giving too much thought into it, worst case scenario he could team up with Ishida and that alone should be more than enough to grant them their win.

Akihiko didn't bother with hearing their answer, and vanished in a burst of speed while leaving Yoruichi and Ichigo by themselves.

. . .

'Welp… I talked all big before but, what the fuck am I supposed to do?' Kuromiya questioned inside his head, this was not a situation that had a good ending for the group, no matter what he did.

Whatever he did from now on would have serious repercussions on future events, since this specific fight was quite relevant for Ishida's future, and it could also end up shifting Mayuri's future too.

Despite his inner doubts, he kept heading straight towards his classmates, though he refrained from releasing too much spiritual pressure while he was close to the hills, otherwise he might end up revealing their hideout.

It had been a few minutes since he had left the hideout now, and by now he had managed to distance himself enough from the training grounds, which meant that he was free to use his full speed to reach the place. Thus, he pushed all the questions he had to the back of his mind, leaving trails of green lights while illuminating the dark night in the seireitei.

''Whatever, I'll deal with it once I'm there.''

. . .

''Oh… A shield?'' The golden shield had the form of a triangle, and although it did show a little cracks in some parts of it due to the explosion, it had allowed the two teenagers to escape the explosion. ''It seems like these intruders might have some value after all.''

While under the curious gaze of the captain, the shield that protected Ishida and Orihime started shattering into pieces, its purpose now fulfilled.

''Thank you, Ishida-kun, if you hadn't screamed out…'' Orihime talked, her voice almost breaking as she finished the sentence. The girl made an effort to hold her tears back, kneeling on the floor next to the still fallen drunken man, who was the one person she had been able to save from the explosion.

''No, there's no need for that.'' Ishida replied, turning back to face the captain and lieutenant that faced them, each one of them watching over with different thoughts. ''It was your shield that saved us, I should be the one thanking you.''

''... What about the others?'' Orihime asked, her gaze was still fixated on the one person she had been able to save.

''Unfortunately, none of them survived.'' The quincy didn't beat around the bush and replied with the truth, the two figures in front of them required his full attention, and he had no time to grief a few dead soul reapers. ''But that's not something you should feel bad about... ''

''If there's someone who should be feeling guilt…'' Ishida glared at the captain that remained unmoving from his position, the same captain who had remained silent throughout their whole exchange. ''It's you!''

. . .

Sado Yasutora stopped in his tracks, his movements stopping just as he had been about to take a step onto the main stairs that lead towards the senzaikyu, the last location in which he had been able to feel Ichigo's reiatsu.

There were two things that had made him stop his movements, the first one was of course that he had been just able to feel both of his friends who were about to clash against an overwhelming spiritual pressure.

The second one was a more imminent threat to himself, since an equally high spiritual energy accompanied by a smaller one had somehow managed to sneak behind his back without his knowledge.

His own body moved almost on pure instinct, turning itself until he faced them while he watched the two newcomers.

The taller of the two was an orange haired woman with a buxom figure, the badge in her left arm identifying her as a lieutenant. This was the very same woman who had battled Kuromiya upon their arrival at the Soul Society, Rangiku Matsumoto.

''Woah! You were right, captain!'' The lieutenant said to the small person next to her, making Chad widen his eyes at the mention of a captain. ''Color me surprised, reading all those reports was useful after all!''

With a scowl adorning his face, Toshiro Hitsugaya stepped out of the shadows that covered his frame while making his best to ignore the antics of his lieutenant.

His appearance was more than enough to make one question if such a person was truly a captain, and it wasn't a weird question to make considering he looked to be a thirteen year old boy.

Though his height was no more than what you would expect of a young teenager, his other traits made a huge contrast when compared to the average human. His short white hair and turquoise eyes just added to the overall unnatural appearance.

It had been his idea to wait on the main stairs, he reasoned that since the intruders had been separated in small groups, it would only make sense that their communication might have been close to nonexistent, which could lead one of the small groups to act on their own after a major fight was over.

''Focus, Matsumoto.'' The white haired boy scowled at the carefree attitude of his second in command. "He doesn't match the given description so it's safe to assume he isn't the one you fought."

''Mhm… He doesn't match the other's descriptions either.'' Rangiku added, though she couldn't help but pout at the serious behaviour of her captain. While facing the male teenager that towered over them, Rangiku waved at him and asked what had been in her mind. ''Say, wouldn't you happen to know someone with a green necklace?''

''...'' Chad remained silent, much to the woman's disappointment.

''Oh, come on! I just want to ask him a few questions…''

''Save it, Matsumoto.'' Toshiro told his lieutenant with a tired sigh, he had been expecting to get a few clues about Aizen's death but he could tell with just a glance that the teenager in front of them lacked the strength to do something like that. ''I doubt he's about to snitch on his comrades…''

''Ideally I would prefer if you just gave up without a fight but…'' Toshiro sighed, one glance at his opponent was more than enough to tell him he wasn't about to let himself be captured. ''No matter, I will end things here and check on Kurotsuchi, I really don't want to think what he might do if I don't stop him.''

Chad had been preparing himself for the first strike for a while already, picturing in his mind a myriad of possible attacks and combinations that his enemies might pull off for their first move. However, planning is pointless when facing a threat of the likes of a captain, you either have enough power to fight them, or you don't.

Chad had yet to remove his gaze from them, but the very moment Toshiro made his movements, he lost track of him. The white haired boy who had been at more than ten meters in front of him was long gone, his silhouette reappearing right behind his back.

The captain's unsheathed zanpakuto hinted at the fact that he was about to perform an attack, so in an attempt to defend himself for the upcoming strike, Chad turned towards him and attempted to prepare for the upcoming slash.

''There's no point in defending yourself…'' Toshiro's words caught him off guard, and he was unable to comprehend what their meaning was. Before he could even voice his doubts, a sharp pain assaulted his senses while blood splattered on the ground, a deep slash cutting him across his chest. ''If the attack already reached you.''

There was a loud 'thud' heard after those words, the wounded teenager falling defeated to the ground before he could even comprehend what had happened.

'What.... When did he…?' Chad felt his vision grow blurry, matching the state of his confused mind as it tried to process his sudden defeat. 'Was I slashed…? That can't be right…'

''I'm sorry about that, but I have no time to waste.'' Toshiro looked down at his defeated opponent, an unreadable expression adorning his face. He turned towards his still unmoving lieutenant, who had remained silent throughout the short fight. ''Matsumoto, call for someone from squad four and make sure he doesn't die, he might still have useful information about the other intruders.''

''Yes.'' Rangiku replied with a quick nod, though she couldn't help but take a curious look towards his captain. ''But… What are you going to do, captain?''

''I'll check on Kurotsuchi… Who knows what he might do to the ones he's fighting when he beats them.'' Toshiro replied with a frown, the 'hobbies' of the captain of squad twelve were more than a little disturbing to him. ''I'm counting on you to handle this situation… Once he's stable, take him to a cell and wait until I'm back.''

. . .

'It's about time.' With more than a few kilometers left to cover before arriving at the battlefield, Kuromiya wasn't left with much to do in the meantime, which meant that his senses were solely focused on them.

Thanks to that, he was able to sense Orihime's spiritual pressure distancing herself from the battlefield with little but no difficulty, which made him sigh in relief.

'Thank god.' He smirked lightly at that, he had been unsure on what Ishida would do this time, since he was more hostile to soul reapers when compared to his canon counterpart. 'He must be…'

He was forced to stop in mid-air as something reached his senses, which was nothing else but Chad's spiritual pressure plummeting down until it was almost unnoticeable.

'He lost?' Kuromiya clicked his tongue in annoyance, Chad's sudden defeat made the situation a lot more complicated to explain, he just hoped that Ichigo wasn't able to feel it. '... Whatever, it's none of my business and I still need to make sure Ishida and Orihime remain alive, they will be more useful later on.'

''Hm… You look annoyed, necklace!''

''Huh, is that so? It's just that… Wait, what the fuck!?'' Kuromiya shouted as he turned towards the person that had talked to him, finding a pink haired small girl looking at him with an amused smile. ''You… How did you get so close?''

The person next to him was Kenpachi's lieutenant, which he had met when he had battled against the blood-thirsty captain. Still, he couldn't care less about the girl, what troubled him was the fact that she had been able to sneak up on him.

Akihiko landed on the roof, distancing himself from the girl just enough to make him able to react if she tried to approach him once again.

''Woah! You are a shinigami, necklace!?'' The girl's eyes sparkled with curiosity, she closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, watching open-mouthed at the changes on Kuromiya's appearance. ''Yay! Ken-chan is gonna love this, now the two of you can play again!''

Yachiru was forced to jump back, dodging a sword swing that barely grazed her left cheek, cutting a few strands of her pink hair and leaving a shallow cut on her innocent face.

''I asked you a question, lieutenant.'' Kuromiya scowled at the idea of someone sneaking up on him like that, he didn't like it one bit. ''How did you do that?''

''How mean!'' Yachiru pouted while cleaning the blood on her face with her left hand. ''I didn't walk towards you, you walked towards me.''

''That actually makes a whole lot of sense...'' He muttered in a deadpan tone, feeling more than a little dumb for not considering that option. Yachiru had been the one who found Orihime in canon after all, so she should have been somewhat close to the place for that to happen. ''Still, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that.''

''Ken-chan always tells me that too.'' With her pout still present on her childish face, the girl walked closer to Kuromiya as he sheathed his zanpakuto. ''But it's just so fun!''

Yachiru was likely the one person that was less likely to attack him inside the whole seireitei, all she cared about was finding something fun while her captain recovered.

''Whatever, just leave me alone.'' Kuromiya turned his back on her, Yachiru was a little difficult to handle. ''I'm kind of in a hurry, so…''

''But I'm bored.'' Yachiru muttered, looking towards the direction in which Ishida and Mayuri had started fighting. ''You see, Ken-chan will be in bed for a few days, and that means I have to stick with you until he's back!''

''What? Listen girl, I don't have time to mess around with you…''

''Hehe… There's no point in arguing, it's decided!'' With a quick jump, the girl landed on the back of the teenager without wasting another second. ''Now, let's go!''

'Don't slash her, Kenpachi will fucking kill you.' He told himself, breathing in and out to calm himself down, repeating that mantra over and over in his mind. 'Don't slash her, Kenpachi will fucking kill you, don't slash her…'

End of chapter thirty two.