第33章: Friends and Sacrifice
A normal day for everyone has come once again but seems different for Rukia. During the school day at Karakura High School, Rukia is quiet and distant from her friends and seems like always in a deep thought. That night, at the Kurosaki Clinic, Yuzu Kurosaki berates Ichigo for raiding the leftovers again as he prepares some food for Rukia. Claiming that he is a growing boy and brushing off Yuzu's assertion that he is going to grow fat, Ichigo brings the food back to his room and announces that it is time for dinner to Rukia, only to discover that she is absent and assume that she took off again as he overlooks a note on his table from Rukia thanking him for everything.
"Kurusaki!!!" A familiar strong and stern female voice can be heard outside the house. "Kurusaki!!!" he heard it again. Erza was so worried that she didn't knock and went straight inside the residence finding Isshin and Ichigo's sisters looking at her with surprise and suspicion. She noticed them and realized her manners so she stopped, faced them and bowed "my apologies for being rude Mr. Kurusaki, My name is Erza and I have an urgent and important matter to discuss with your son" she said with an stoic expression.
The carrot head's family stared at her examining her "my, my, I must say Ichigo has an excellent taste in women" he teased. "Who is she? Is she his girlfriend?" She moves sideways to whisper audibly at her father and earned a death stare from the Scarlet Reaper "hi, my name is karin, I guess I should call you big sister?" She said nervously while bowing. Karin has dark grey eyes and black hair that is straight and cropped to hang around her face, just above her shoulders. Her eyes are large and dark. "Nice to meet you Karin, I just really need to talk to Ichigo" Erza said fidgeting painfully aware of the time that she's running out of "did he make her pregnant? Look at how she is annoyed? Hi, I'm Yuzu, pleased to meet you" she said softly. Yuzu's appearance is a stark contrast to her sister's. Yuzu has short light blonde hair, with short bangs hanging over the right side of her forehead. She also wears a red hair clip on the left side of her head. Her eyes are dark brown and appear much softer than Karin's. "Nice to meet you too, but can I go and talk to Ichigo now?" The red head responded. "You go up stairs now, Ichigo's room is just straight up" Isshin instructed wiping the blood from his nose from examining Erza's features. The three looked at each other and nodded as they followed her secretly and leaned with their ears against the door.
"Carrot head!" She called his attention "what are you doing here tomato head?" He answered "where's Rukia? She's in danger" she spat Ichigo's eyes went wide as he raises the letter on his hand and gave it to her. "She crumpled the paper in annoyance "we have to find her and we have to make it fast, she must've been hiding this all along" she hissed and called Kon "you boys know the drill, hurry up and follow me" she said before jumping out of the window.
Rukia was running through the streets remembering the first night they met, the night Ichigo became a substitute shinigami for her, all the memories of them at the school and the friends she gained through her stay in world of the living. "If I will not leave this world now everything will become a burden. Compassion, friendship, affection. They are all a bother. Such feelings is unnecessary for a shinigami" she tells herself as she runs then a familiar voice made her stop. It was her childhood friend, the red headed shinigami Renji Abararai who was sitting on top of a lamp post and jumped downward slashing his katana but Rukia dodged it in time and his reiatsu formed a bright green light from the sword straight up to the sky. "Tell me where is the human who stole your powers?" Renji co tinues to attack her until she answers his question Rukia saw her brother Byakugan silently watching them nonchalantly "the next hit will be fatal, so tell me where is the human?" Renji warned her but Rukia remained silent and is ready to receive the blow when a flash of reiatsu stop the attack mid air. They all looked towards the direction and saw the carrot head with the tomato head in shihakusho. Ichigo carrying his oversized zanpakutō over his shoulders and Erza her twin blade on both hands slowly making their way to meet them. The three was shocked to feel the reiatsu spilling out from Ichigo but shivered in fear with Erza's.
"Erza, it's been a while" Byakuya greeted "yes it is, did you miss me?" She answered playfully "you grew stronger" Renji commented "I'm not sure, do you want to test it?" Erza teased. "You know them?" Ichigo asked before staring at them back and forth quizzically. "I'll let you handle this carrot head, show me what you're made of" Erza said before forming a challenging smirk towards the 6th division officers.
"I'll kill you human so Rukia can have her powers back" Renji said with a sly grin "Roar, Zabimaru" and his zanpakutō changed it's form and managed to wound Ichigo "is that all you have brat?" Erza commented with a stoic expression with her remark Ichigo smiled at her stood up and started emitting a great amount of reiatsu which shocked Renji and made him feel heavy, Ichigo attacked him and wounded him "I think I saw this kid somewhere, it was the report that he critically wounded the menos grande that forced it to go back to hueco mundo" Byakuya stated. Renji laughed at this "this kid? Impossible Kuchiki Taichō he doesn't even mastered his reiatsu yet and does not have a name for his zanpakutō"
Ichigo launches with his sword towards Renji when he stopped to see his sword broken and finding the missing piece in the hands of the nobleman. Byakuya then disappear and reappeared beside Ichigo and in a flash Ichigo received a critical hit causing him to fall on the ground. Rukia stood there frozen watching the exchange. Byakuya is raised his katana to prepare to end his opponent's life when his sword was parried and a huge amount of a wind like reiatsu blew towards him. Erza stood between them with her zanpakutō blocking his final blow "I won't let you kill him" she said sternly looking him straight in his eyes. "Geta-boshi kun, take care of this brat" she said and Urahara appears behind her grabbing the unconscious Ichigo.
"Do not interfere, I will not hesitate to hurt you, please understand that this needs to be done" he answered trying his best to stay firm and not giving in to the urge he's feeling. It's been a while since he last saw the women who captured his heart. All he can think of is feeling the warmth of her embrace, the sweetness of her plump lips but at the same time he needs to fulfill his duty. He backed away and unsheathed his katana to prepare for an attack. Erza only unsheathed hers "scatter, senbonzakura" he commanded. Senbonzakura's blade separated into a thousand tiny, slender blade fragments, which fly away from the hilt, leaving only the sword's handle in Byakuya's hand. While the blades are supposedly too small to be seen normally, they reflect light in such a way as to resemble cherry blossom petals. By swinging Senbonzakura's hilt, Byakuya can control the blade fragments, allowing him to shred opponents at a distance and break through almost any defense. But much to their surprise Erza dodges every single one as if she's dancing with it and did not take long enough to find herself within the hurtless area.
"Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi" he said. Byakuya drops his sword straight down, the sword phases into the ground, as though it were a pool of water. Energy ripples expand out, turning the surrounding area dark, and within seconds, two rows of a thousand giant blades rise up from the ground. Those thousand swords scatter, and countless flying blades pierce the enemy. No one knows the exact number of blades generated, and no one can dodge or even see the movements of these blades. However, the Scarlet shinigami effortlessly dodges them and when she finally saw an opening she unsheathed her katana to land a huge slash upon the 6th division captain.
"Stop!" Rukia shouted from the top of her lungs which stopped everything not moving an inch the two faced Rukia "enough Erza, I'm your friend but I won't allow you to hurt my brother" she said almost crying. Erza straightened herself up and sheathed her katana "Fine by me then but in one condition, you stay here with me" she said with a death stare "I'm afraid I can't let that happen" Byakuya answered and both started emitting their reiatsu "I'm going with you back to seireitei brother. Erza chan do not bother to follow, take care of Ichigo if you follow me now, I won't ever forgive you" she said with tears forming in her eyes. Erza remained silent understanding her friend's hidden message "Renji" Byakuya commanded and he stood in front of the siblings took his zanpakutō and used it as a key "open" he said and the senkaimon appeared with jigokuchō as the three entered and disappear, Rukia took a last glance at Erza and she nodded in response before the door closes and as soon as it vanishes Erza made her way to Urahara's place with a plan in her head.