Chapter Twenty-One

Not even acknowledging her friend's outraged voice, Izumi dropped the dark haired boy's arm and crossed her arms while Ishida leaned forward seeming excited.

"This may sound like a weird idea, but I think I know of a way to beat him!" Ichigo stared on confused while looking between the two people in front of him; why had they been so touchy? He couldn't help but feel a little weirded out by it. Izumi shook her head and looked up towards the huge beast walking in the opposite direction from them.

"What?"

....

In a building away from the actual fight, two high-schoolers stood with concerned faces while staring down through the window. Orihime and Chad watched with heavy hearts as the trio containing Ichigo, Izumi, and Ishida stood talking over their new plans. They couldn't believe what they were seeing; they didn't want to believe the man in the hat, but now the evidence was right there in front of their faces.

"So, can you see Ichigo and Izumi standing next to Ishida?" Chad questioned while squinting down at the three, it was hard for him to see them. Orihime's quiet voice caught his attention when she declared that she could see them. He felt a little skeptical, and surprised.

"You can see them clearly?" he asked looking from her down to the others, he paused slightly when Izumi glanced up towards where they were standing at the window; there was no possible way that she could see them. They were too far up. At least that's what he told himself while he refocused on the young girl beside him.

"Yes, I can see clearly." she whispered sounding almost sad as she watched Izumi lock eyes with her; Orihime knew that the young girl could see them. She knew it for a fact when her childhood friend gave her a small nod before looking back towards the boys in front of her.

"Really? I can barely see them from here." he paused remembering that Urahara had specifically placed them there and asked them to remain put. "Please watch from here huh?" he repeated the words the strange man had said before he left.

"Does this mean we have to make our choice here about the path we have to take?" she whispered feeling an overwhelming sense of pain and confusion run through her body. If she were telling the truth, she knew that she had no reason to act surprised. Her memory had never been erased from Ichigo's fight with her brother; she had just chose to ignore it. Orihime didn't even want to think about the countless times she had seen Izumi in her spiritual form. She had pretended she didn't remember Ichigo's fight because she couldn't stand watching Ichigo and her brother kill each other; she felt she could only doubt her memory.

"Sado-kun, what are we supposed to do?" her voice cracked as Chad stood silently, completely unsure on how to reply or console the young girl.

....

"Okay! Preparation complete!" Ishida declared while kneeling on the ground with Ichigo's sword strapped to his head. Izumi stared on trying to hold in a laugh; in truth, it wasn't a bad idea. The young Quincy had adapted to his surroundings and figured out that the perfect power-up ability stood right in front of him. Though she thought that he could have figured out a different way that wasn't so ridiculously funny to see.

"You are an idiot aren't you?" Ichigo questioned while looking down at the dark haired boy confused and uncomfortable. At that Izumi lost her composure and let out a huge burst of giggles. A blush covered Ishida's face as he glared up at the orange haired boy.

"Stop complaining! If I constantly touch your sword, and you use your spiritual power, I can shoot an unbelievably enormous arrow! Now unleash your power! Control it and max out your spiritual energy!" Ishida declared feeling pride well up in his chest as he found a proper way to beat such a strong enemy.

"But I never control my spiritual energy." Ichigo commented, making Ishida screech in reply. He quickly looking towards Izumi who blushed and was scratching her cheek. No one knew that she was the one who regulated almost every drop of Ichigo's power; even when she had explained that to Kisuke she made sure to skim over the part about his complete lack of ability to control the unsuppressed power she couldn't control.

He stared at her in shock while millions of thoughts passed through his head. One being that the girl in front of him really was amazing.