Survive.

Chapter sixteen.

''Keeeeeeeen-chan!'' The girlish voice of his lieutenant reached the ears of the current Kenpachi, making him turn back. He managed to see out of the corner of his eye the little figure of the pink haired girl jumping towards him, making a perfect landing on his left shoulder.

''Yachiru, huh?'' Zaraki smirked, now that he was with his lieutenant once again he would be able to head straight towards his objective. ''We are going towards the senzaikyu, if we make it there quick we will be able to arrive before him.''

''Him?'' Yachiru tilted her head to the side with curiosity as her captain started running once again, heading towards the center of the Seireitei. ''Who is 'him', Ken-chan?''

''The one who defeated Matsumoto, of course.'' Kenpachi replied, the sole idea of the fight that awaited him was more than enough to make him double his current speed. ''He appears to have some strange ability that allows him to survive fatal wounds, we just got to reach him before the other captains do it.''

''Ken-chan, you seem happy!'' Yachiru noted, offering her captain a cute smile while both of them kept heading towards their new destination.

''Do I? Well, it has been a while since something interesting has happened over here.'' Kenpachi replied, the whole calm that had overwhelmed the Soul Society for so many years had been more than enough to bore him to death. He wasn't a man born to live in such boring peace. ''I can't wait to meet him… He better not disappoint me!''

. . .

''And… There you go.'' With a gentle touch, Yoruichi finished the treatment on the one wound that the teenager had sustained. ''Unless you start smashing your head against a wall, the wound shouldn't open up again.''

Night ended up coming before they could make their way to the center of the Seireitei, and after a short discussion both of them had agreed to take a rest.

The two of them had managed to get inside one of the empty buildings at the Seireitei, this particular building appeared to be some sort of storage room, judging by the amount of shinigami robes that were stored inside it.

''You do know that you could just wear one of those soul reaper robes, right?'' Kuromiya pointed out after a few seconds of a somewhat uncomfortable silence. No matter how comfortable he could be around her, it was still quite weird to have a woman just treat his wounds without bothering to even cover herself.

''Mhmm… I suppose you are right.'' She mused, though the purple haired woman didn't make an attempt to dress herself. Her long hair was falling all over her naked figure, with no sort of ponytail to keep it tied behind her back. ''Still, I don't like it. I have grown accustomed to not wearing them over the last a hundred couple of years.''

'Don't mind me, then.' The black haired boy thought, finally glancing towards the woman. No sane male would insist on having her cover herself, Ichigo aside.

''For a fifteen-year-old boy, you sure don't seem too shy about having a naked woman next to you.'' Yoruichi noted while allowing her back to rest against one of the building's walls. ''Then again… I have yet to know a human that would kill someone and not stop for a second to think about it.''

''Hm?'' The sudden shift on the conversation's topic caught him by surprise, he hadn't expected the woman to bring something like that up. It did seem a little weird for someone who used to deal with killings on a daily basis to point out something like that. ''Should I be thinking about it? I didn't know them; I fail to see how something like that should affect me.''

''Well, I suppose that is one way to see it.'' The woman half agreed, she was just asking this out of curiosity to begin with. ''Just thought you should know that I am here to talk about it, if you needed it.''

''Nah… I do appreciate it, though.'' Kuromiya replied after a while, now able to understand just what had prompted the woman to ask such a question.

It made sense, he was just a human teenager and truth be told, he was also their best shot at rescuing Rukia too. The group couldn't afford to lose him due to some sort of mental breakdown.

''You know…'' He started after a while, deciding that there wouldn't be a better chance to get to know the woman a bit better. ''You haven't told me much about you just yet. And it is a little too obvious that you are not just a normal woman who just happens to know how to transform herself into a cat.''

''It's not like we had a chance to talk, you didn't do nothing but train in the last ten days.'' She reminded the boy, now looking at him once again. ''But I don't mind telling you a few things about me.''

''Well, then… I don't know what is your full name, so let's start from there.'' The blue eyed boy started, it was an interesting first question since it would reveal just how much the woman was willing to reveal about herself.

''Yoruichi Shihōin.'' The purple haired woman replied without giving it much thought, it appeared that she didn't care about hiding her true identity to him. ''Though you could have asked something more interesting, don't you think?''

''That was just an easy one, I still have more things I want to know.'' Kuromiya assured her, smiling lightly at her. ''Though you might not be able to handle some of them.''

''Oh, is that so?'' She smirked back at him, moving closer to him. ''Sounds like a challenge to me, and one that I don't intend to lose.''

. . .

''… Aizen-taicho?'' Gin asked after a while, after all the man had been doing nothing but read the fight reports since he had ended up getting his hands on them.

He was the man that discovered almost all the secrets that the Thirteen Court Guard Squad's attempted to hide from the public, so investing so much thinking into something so simple as a battle report was quite unusual.

It was not often that something managed to catch the man's attention so much, that much was for sure.

''What is it, Gin?'' Aizen questioned after a while, his gaze still focused on the fight report's. The man was still sporting that smile that all-knowing smile that he shared with just a selected few people, one of them being with him right now.

''Nothing, it's just that it has been a while since I have seen you like this.'' The silver haired captain replied. ''Is there something interesting about the reports?''

''Quite a few things, in fact.'' Aizen replied, smiling once he finished reading the report for yet a second time. ''I have a few theories regarding the power that one of my test subjects holds, that's all.''

''Oh? But the squad twelve analysis concluded that we didn't have enough information to discover how their powers worked.'' Gin asked in genuine curiosity, despite how much he hated the man not even he could deny that the man was a genius.

''That is just the case because the squad twelve treated this and your own fight like an isolated incident, but I am confident that the boy you fought is the same that defeated lieutenant Matsumoto.'' Aizen answered, his smirk growing ever so slightly at how Gin's mood seemed to dampen once Rangiku was mentioned.

''Is that so? We didn't get a description from the reports, so…''

''How did I arrive to that conclusion? It's quite simple, really.'' The captain of the fifth squad interrupted his subordinate mid-sentence, while recalling every single detail from both of the reports. ''In both incidents, an injury was inflicted upon the target that both you and Matsumoto were fighting, right?''

''But how is that relevant to… Oh, I see.'' Gin realized after a while, now able to make the connection too. ''Once my squad finished the scan around the area, we didn't find even a drop of blood, but I did manage to injure him.''

''The members from squad four confirmed that the attack Rangiku described should have been fatal for his opponent, and upon further research squad twelve concluded that he might have some sort of healing power… But I don't think that is correct, how do you explain the lack of blood in both scenes if that was the case?''

''If it's not healing, then what is his power then?'' The captain of squad three questioned, even with the explanation that the brown haired man had provided, it was still a difficult to grasp just what he was getting at.

''Well, you see…'' Aizen smirked, turning towards his subordinate for the first time since their conversation had started. ''I think we are dealing with something beyond what simple healing could accomplish, and that is…''

. . .

''We are here.'' The somewhat girlish and delicate voice of Hanataro Yamada announced to the two people that followed him.

This boy was no other than a member of squad four, the medical division, plus his two companions where no other than Ganju and Ichigo, which raised an important question. Why in the world was a soul reaper guiding the intruders through the sewers, helping them get to their objective.

It all had started when the pair of intruders had attempted to use him as some sort of hostage in order to get past a horde of soul reapers from squad eleven that surrounded them from all flanks on one of the streets.

Their treat had failed, both friends ignorant regarding the differences between such polar opposite squads, one of them battle oriented and the other one being nothing more than a healing.

This whole situation had snowballed, and it somehow ended up with them being helped by Hanataro, who appeared to be quite close to Rukia herself. With that in mind, after resting for the night the now group of three walked while making use of the underground construction, making it easy for them to cover a great distance.

''You sure this is the right place?'' Ganju questioned, looking up to the stairs that would take them out of the sewers.

''Yes, I'm sure.'' Hanataro assured them, the members of squad four often did clean up inside the sewers, which meant that no one knew them better than them. ''This is the closest we can get to the tower by using the sewers, but it should be visible from right here.''

''What are we waiting for, then?'' Ichigo questioned, going up the stairs without a single doubt in his mind. ''I will be the first one, just in case someone is up there.''

. . .

''How much longer until we reach it?'' Kuromiya questioned, the night was long gone and so both of them were once again heading towards the senzaikyu. After a nice talk and a good night resting, both of them had their energies renewed, which meant that there wouldn't be more stops until they reached their objective.

''Not too much, we should be able to reach it in around an hour at this speed.'' Yoruichi replied now back on her cat form –much to Kuromiya's disappointment-, though she didn't seem to convinced about her own words.

''You are slowing down a bit.'' The blue eyed boy noted, pointing out the decreased on the woman's speed. ''Is everything ok?''

''I… This doesn't feel right, we should have encountered someone, even if just a lieutenant.'' Yoruichi answered after a while, voicing her concerns to him.

''I feel the same way.'' Kuromiya agreed, remembering the blood-curdling feeling that had assaulted him not too long ago. ''But I don't feel any spiritual pressure here.''

''We should have our guards up, just in case.'' The black cat said after a few moments of silence, though neither of them attempted to stop from moving forward. ''If we encounter something we can't handle, we should retreat.''

. . .

''Hanataro, Ganju, stand back.'' Ichigo warned them, the group now finally back on the surface. ''Someone is here.''

The three of them were just about to walk up the stairs that would lead them straight to the senzaikyu, but a sudden spiritual pressure had appeared on the area just before either of them could even make a step on it.

''… I don't like this.'' Ganju added, frowning as the morning fog ended up working as some sort of cover for the newcomer. ''Look, there is a figure there.''

True enough, there was a shadowed figure walking down the stairs, each of its steps allowed them to get a more detailed view of their opponent. It wasn't needed though, since Ichigo had recognized the spiritual pressure just now.

''I get it.'' Ichigo wielded his zanpakuto in front of him, taking steps towards the figure that approached them. ''You are the one who took Rukia, aren't you?''

''Oh? You remember my face, then?'' Renji was now finally in front of them, the fog disappearing as if his very own presence was enough to disperse it. ''I won't lie; I was expecting to have a second round with that damn boy but… Killing the person that stole Rukia's powers is even better.''

''You sure talk big for someone that got his ass handed before I could even get to the fight.'' Ichigo replied, smirking at the red haired soul reaper. ''Let's just hope that this time I have enough time to hear your name, at least.''

''Renji Abarai.'' The soul reaper presented himself, while holding his sword horizontally. ''And here there's another name for you… Roar, Zabimaru!''

. . .

''This spiritual pressure…'' Yoruichi muttered, both of them feeling the clash of spiritual pressure's that had started right now.

''It looks like Ichigo is fighting the soul reaper we defeated at the human world.'' Kuromiya noted, recognizing Renji's spiritual pressure in a second. ''Unfortunately, it seems like we are at the opposite side.''

''I was hoping to make use of your flight ablity to avoid the main stairs, but I didn't think Ichigo would be there.'' Yoruichi cursed, the distance between them would make it impossible to reach the place in time to help.

''It's too late to regret it; but we still can do our job.'' The fullbringer said pointing towards the white tower. ''While Ichigo fights, we should be able to… !?''

An indescribable feeling made both of them gasp, as a horrific spiritual pressure covered their very beings, attempting to crush them against the ground. Little did it matter that neither of them was able to picture their opponent, the murderous sensation that emanated from it was more than enough to make a single face appear in their mind.

''T-this…'' He knew it, sooner or later his actions would end up attracting some unwanted attention, but he hadn't expected that attention to be from this particular person.

''Akihiko, we need to get out of…!''

''Heh.'' The unmistakable sound of a bell jingling forced them to turn towards their backs, where there was a single person standing. Said man had managed to make his way onto their blind spot in no more than a millisecond, while uttering a single sentence to them. ''I found you.''

The figure of no other than Kenpachi Zaraki, the captain of squad eleven was looking straight at them with a smirk that radiated nothing more than pure blood thirst.

''It's you, isn't it?'' Zaraki answered, his one eye looking him up and down with his grin threatening to split his face in half. ''You are the strongest one, right?''

[Hidden quest completed:

Meet Kenpachi Zaraki.

Reward: 300 I.P]

[Main quest obtained:

Survive, survive, survive, survive, survive, survive, survive, survive, survive, survive, survive

Reward: 6000 I.P]

''… Holy shit.''

End of chapter sixteen.