Jump-Start
Series: Exiles-verse
Title: Jump Start
Summary: When Aizen is discovered to have been defeated by a group of exiles months after his defection, the Soul Society is understandably uneasy. They begin an investigation which eventually locates twenty years gone deserter Kuchiki Rukia, leaving Kuchiki Byakuya and the recently appointed captain of the Third Division, Abarai Renji, in an awkward situation. AU, Ichigo/Rukia.
Rating: Hard R
Warnings: Violence, nondescript sex, gratuitous Japanese, and spoilers for current arc in the manga.
Four hours after the new developments on Rukia's surveillance feed, the captains of the Soul Society have gathered once again to discuss the problem of Urahara Kisuke and his cohorts in the human world, and Renji is about to rip his hair out at their lackadaisical attitude. They seem more preoccupied with the recent disappearances in the Rukongai than the events in the human world, and while Renji understands that the disappearances are a problem, he can't help but feel Rukia's situation is more immediate. Unfortunately, he can't really say anything as he is not only one of the more junior captains, but he also ruffled more than a few feathers by ignoring the chain of command when bringing the new developments straight to Yamamoto-soutaichou. He can feel Kurotsuchi-taichou's piercing glare on him as he shifts impatiently from foot to foot and makes a mental note not to send any of his people anywhere remotely close to the Twelfth Division barracks any time soon.
"I see no point in making any move until we have more information," Komamura-taichou says once they finally get back on topic, yellow eyes narrowed at the picture of Rukia and Ishida on the screen in the Division One headquarters. "We didn't even know that these humans had spiritual power until today! They are probably all Urahara's people and who knows who this other group is?"
"They don't seem to be interested in the Soul Society, true," Kyouraku-taichou observes, throwing a worried glance at a sickly-looking Ukitake-taichou, who should have probably taken the day off.
"Yet," Soifon-taichou mutters rebelliously. "We should deal with them before they become a threat. Urahara and the other exiles too. This is getting ridiculous; we should have retrieved Kuchiki the second we found her instead of this farce."
Renji finds himself agreeing with the unpleasant Second Division captain, to his great surprise.
"Our best bet would probably be to go now then," Renji says, as politely and calmly as possible. "After all, they'r-"
"Oh, shut up, Abarai," Kurotsuchi-taichou says nastily. "You're not fooling anyone. Everyone knows that you're an old friend of Kuchiki's. You would do well to remember that your loyalty is to the Soul Society, not to her!"
"Excuse me?" Renji starts furiously, though at what he's not even sure himself.
"That's quite enough, Kurotsuchi," Yamamoto-soutaichou barks, slamming his cane loudly against the floor once. "You're out of line!"
Kurotsuchi-taichou scowls, but does not argue. Yamamoto-soutaichou turns to Renji and eyes him thoughtfully though, and Renji tries not to look suspicious.
"Technically, Kuchiki's associates are human..." Rangiku-san cuts in, crossing her arms over her ample chest. "And if they're being attacked by unknown assailants with spiritual power..."
Renji throws her a grateful look and she smiles back at him tightly.
"Our job is to jump in and rescue them?" Zaraki-taichou says with a laugh. "Don't be stupid. I'm all for a good fight, but that's not going to be the way it plays out."
"Are we really going to sit back and do nothing though?" Hitsugaya-taichou asks, looking bored and Renji guesses the only reason he's speaking up is for his former vice-captain's sake. "We've been doing surveillance for more than a month now and-"
There is a loud knock on the door that cuts him off and Renji immediately feels his heart jump into his throat. If something's happened...if Rukia's...
"Come in!" Yamamoto-soutaichou orders and the door opens, revealing the green-haired surveillance member.
"P-Please excuse my interruption," she gasps for breath, bending over in a low bow, clutching a small disk in both hands. "I...there's been another..."
"Speak up!" Yamamoto-soutaichou says, not particularly kindly and although the girl has always seemed like kind of a gossip, Renji finds himself feeling bad for her anyway.
"There's been another development..." she starts again, still out of breath. "You, really, really need to see this."
She looks so earnest and as she steps forward to place the disk inside its port after Yamamoto-soutaichou nods, Renji worries that the entire room can hear the loud thumping of his heart.
There's a blurriness of tree branches when the video starts, but the lens quickly clears to reveal the location as a forest at night. The camera dodges a flying branch and slithers forward in the air toward a clearing where the unmistakable sounds of battle are coming from.
"...n't want to fight you!" the big guy is saying in anguish, right arm transformed into some kind of weapon. He and the brown-haired girl are faced off against Rukia and Ishida, both of whom look more than a little worn.
"Fools," Rukia gasps, holding her side painfully. "Out of our way!"
"Why do you want to hurt Tsukishima-san?" the brown-haired girl asks, tears in her eyes. "How could you forget how much he's helped us?"
"You're not in your right mind, Inoue-san!" Ishida shouts and a blue light bursts forward from his arm, forming a bow.
"Ho," Kurotsuchi-taichou says in surprise. "A Quincy. That's something I haven't seen in a long time."
Renji neither knows nor cares what a Quincy is, but instead focuses on the pained look on Rukia's face and her weak grip on her already released zanpakutou.
"You should really give it up, Kuchiki-san, Ishida-kun," a man's voice says and a second later its owner emerges from a patch of trees. He's thin, pale, and Renji has never seen him before on camera, but by the furious looks on Rukia and Ishida's faces, they know him.
"Bastard," Rukia hisses, face contorted in fury. "Undo what you have done!"
"He hasn't done anything!" the karate girl runs out from behind the pale man, her fists surrounded by rings of fire. "Why are you acting like this?"
"Hurry it up, Tsukishima," another voice says from the trees and six more people emerge from the forest. Renji recognizes the pigtailed girl who attacked Rukia's roommate, but the rest of them are new faces. A small blond boy wearing a heavy coat, a teenager with a strange haircut, a tall dark skinned woman, a man with an eye patch, and the speaker, a man with a large sword and an eerie grin.
"It can't be!" Yamamoto-soutaichou says and Renji tears his eyes away from the screen to see the shocked look on the Head Commander's face.
"Is that..." Ukitake-taichou starts disbelievingly. "Ginjou?"
"Who's-" Renji starts, but Kyouraku-taichou shushes him.
"Ginjou-san, you're hurt!" the brown-haired girl says and she rushes forward, something flying from the hairpins pinned on her collar. It encircles the gash on Ginjou's arm in a yellow bubble and the wound disappears faster than any Kidou could ever manage.
"That's..." Unohana-taichou says with a frown. "...not a healing spell. Interesting."
"Inoue-san, don'-" Ishida starts, but cuts himself off and fires a blue bolt at Tsukishima, who easily dodges it and in an arc of blood, his sword makes contact with Ishida's shoulder.
"Ishi-" Rukia shouts as he falls, but then Ginjou slams her into the trunk of a nearby tree with only the air pressure from his blade.
"You..." Ishida gasps from the ground, glasses broken against a rock. "Why are you doing this?"
"You're not giving us any choice!" the karate girl shouts furiously, eyes bright with tears. "What is wrong with you?"
"Ah, the truth is they're just a little too smart for their own good," Ginjou says, sauntering over to Rukia and brings his foot down hard on her ribs.
Rukia gives a cry of pain and tries to swing her sword at him, but Ginjou kicks it out of her grasp.
"Shinigami, of course," he says scornfully, while Rukia jerks in pain on the ground.
Renji feels sick and helpless, wanting to lunge for the screen, to stop it, but knowing that there's nothing he can do. This has already happened.
"Hey, Ginjou, what are you doing?" the big guy says, rushing forward.
"Tsukishima!" Ginjou says, without talking his eyes off Rukia.
"You don't want to do that," Tsukishima says, moving forward lighting fast to grab his arm. "Don't you trust me, Sado-kun?"
"I-" Sado starts, looking between Ginjou and Rukia in confusion. "I don't-"
"Why are you hurting Kuchiki-san?" Inoue says and the karate girl looks uncertain as well.
"Ginjou..." the karate girl says slowly. "That's enough. Why are you...I don't underst-"
"Run!" Ishida gasps, struggling to move, but the dark skinned woman kicks him down again.
"Enough, the both of you!" the pigtailed girl says, looking horrified. "Let's just get Kurosaki and leave, okay? Wasn't that the plan?"
It starts to rain then, a soft pattering sound filling the room, water lightly streaking the lens of the camera.
"Calm down, Riruka," Ginjou says, running a hand back through his wet hair casually. "Just a bit of fun. But as much as I like beating down shinigami, you've got a point. Let's finish this. Tsukishima."
With a flick of Tsukishima's finger, Inoue, Sado, and the karate girl fall to the ground without a word.
"Hado no 88!" Rukia's voice comes weakly from her broken body on the ground. "Hiryuugeki-"
"Really?" Ginjou says contemptuously, lifting her up by the throat and cutting her off. "You people never give up, do you?"
"Scum," Rukia says hoarsely, blood dripping down her face from her forehead. "What do you want with Ichigo?"
"Yeah, that's a good question," someone else says. "What do you want with me?"
The camera swerves automatically at the sound of a new voice and Renji receives another shock as the orange haired kid steps into view from the trees.
"Put. Her. Down." the kid snarls, though it's not particularly impressive as he looks just about as threatening as a drowned rat.
"He has spiritual power too?" Hisagi-senpai says sharply, turning to the green haired girl. "I thought you said-"
"It didn't show up on any of our reading-"
"Silence!" Kuchiki-taichou says before Renji can and Renji turns back to the screen, trying to think back on every time he'd seen the reclusive kid and remember if he'd ever shown any signs of being anything other than an ordinary human.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Kurosaki Ichigo himself," Ginjou says, grinning manically, "We've spent a lot of time trying to get your attention, you know."
"You've got it," Kurosaki spits out, hands clenched into fists. "You Tsukishima?"
"That would be me actually," Tsukishima says and Kurosaki's expression turns even more furious.
"Fool," Rukia chokes weakly, still held immobile by Ginjou's hand around her small neck. "Why did you come here?"
Kurosaki ignores her.
"Leave them alone," he tells Tsukishima and Ginjou harshly. "You've got my fucking attention now."
Ginjou sighs. "This isn't really the way we wanted things to go, you know," he says casually, still holding Rukia adjacent to his body. "In the beginning we thought you'd join us. But then you had to be living with this shinigami whore. One of them."
He tightens his hold on Rukia's neck and she jerks helplessly in the air, hands coming up to clutch vainly at his fingers. Renji has to hold back a furious sound from spilling out of his throat and dig his nails so hard into the flesh of his palm that it begins to bleed. Oh, God, he doesn't want to see Rukia die on a surveillance tape in front of the rest of the Soul Society, he doesn't-he can't-
"Shit," Hitsugaya-taichou mutters under his breath in disgust. "What the hell is this?"
"HEY!" Kurosaki shouts, striding forward furiously. "Don't you touch her!"
His teeth are clenched together fiercely and Renji has to admire his bravery, even though he's clearly a complete moron.
"You leave her out of this!" he continues, voice cracking with suppressed emotion. "You want me? Fine! I'm here! But you don't touch my family, you don't touch my friends, and you don't touch her! Don't you dare, Rukia!" he says when Rukia tries to protest. "You won't step in front of me this time! You've got me now. I am right here!"
"Kurosaki..." Ishida gasps from the ground. "You idiot, wha-"
"Shut up, Ishida!" Kurosaki yells, shaking not with fear, not with cold from the rain, but from genuine rage and for the first time Renji can see why Rukia loves him.
Ginjou, Tsukishima, and the others look vaguely amused at his outburst, but the pigtailed girl, Riruka or something, looks stricken.
Ginjou drops Rukia into the mud without preamble and stalks towards Kurosaki.
"Pathetic," he says scornfully, resting his large sword on his shoulders. "You really used to be something, didn't you, Kurosaki? And now look at you. You're a sad sight without your powers. How long has it been now since you brought down Aizen Sousuke? Two years?"
"What?" Renji gasps, but no one hears him as the rest of the captains are busying expressing their own disbelief.
He reevaluates the kid for the dozenth time and thinks, no way, not him. Not this moody child.
"Two years, eight months, and four days," Kurosaki says viciously, rain water running down his face now and dripping off from his chin.
"Impossible," Soifon-taichou exclaims, dark eyes wide and incredulous. "That human defeated Aizen?"
"And your powers were the price," Ginjou laughs, shaking his head. "But you won't have to worry about that anymore. Not when we're done with you."
"Ginjou!" the pigtailed girl speaks up again. "You said we weren't going to kill him!"
"Yeah, well, he's pissing me off," Ginjou replies, the first sign of annoyance flickering across his face as he glares at Kurosaki. "Coming here without any sort of plan. Powerless and weak. Makes me sick."
"Oi, Ginjou..." the dark skinned woman says worriedly.
"Don't worry, Jackie," Tsukishima says matter of factly. "He won't remember this conversation."
The kid grits his teeth, but stands his ground, looking ridiculous in his soaked human clothes and bright hair.
"Fine then," he says, straightening his back and standing tall. "But leave my family and friends out of it!"
"Cute," Ginjou smirks lazily.
"Ginjou..." Riruka starts again, pleadingly.
"Shut up, if you don't want to be next, Riruka," Ginjou turns back to snap at her. "You're getting on my nerves."
"But-"
"Ichigo..." Rukia's voice comes faintly, muffled by earth. "What...are you doing, you fool. Run...away..." She tries to pick herself up off the ground and the determined look disappears from Kurosaki's face to be replaced by something like fear.
"Stay down, Rukia!" he shouts angrily, eyes wide and terrified.
"You are really such an...idiot," Rukia gasps, on her knees now and in a flash she's up and running at Kurosaki, leaving her sword behind in the mud.
"Wait!" Kurosaki and Riruka shout at the same time, but Ginjou's blade swings down without mercy and Rukia's left arm hits the ground with a splatter of blood.
Rukia stumbles, but does not fall and she reaches Kurosaki before Ginjou can strike again. There's a flash of white and then Kurosaki has a sword through his heart, Rukia's hand clenched tightly around the hilt.
Renji has just enough time to wonder if he has gone completely insane as he stares at the scene before him, before all the other captains shocked exclamations drown out everything else.
"Wha-" Kurosaki chokes, eyes dropping down to the sword through his chest in shock. Rukia sags against him, head hitting his chest. "You-"
"Here we go again..." she says faintly, barely audible over the sound of the rain. "I was hoping...Just a little more. But you will have to make due with-"
There's an explosion of mud and dirt around Kurosaki that splatters the lens of the camera and Rangiku-san actually lets out of squeak of shock. The dust clears to reveal a far more shocking scene, one that causes Renji's mouth to drop open. No way, no fucking way, this was impossi-
Kurosaki stands in shihakushou, a barely conscious Rukia in one hand and a sword even stupidly bigger than Ginjou's in the other. He looks just about as surprised as everyone else, both on camera and off, and for a moment, all of them stare at him.
Ginjou recovers first drawing his sword out to point it at Kurosaki quickly.
"Impossible," he gasps, eyes narrowed and posture stiffening as if he's readying himself for battle nonetheless. "There's no way...You may look like a shinigami, but one person's reiatsu isn't enough to-"
"Idiot," Ishida says coldly from the corner of the lens, pulling himself to his feet and Renji almost jumps. He'd forgotten he was even there. "We've all been pouring our reiatsu into that sword for months."
Blue energy forms a bow in his arms once again. "Go, Kurosaki!" he shouts, aiming for Tsukishima.
Kurosaki glances down worriedly at Rukia, blood and rain dripping down her short hair, and then a cold fury comes over his face as he looks back up at Ginjou.
"Ban," he says and Renji can almost feel the increase in reiatsu through the screen. "Kai."
There's another explosion of power and then the screen goes static again, leaving the entire room to stare silently at the grey and white mess.
"What?" Hitsugaya-taichou says eloquently after a moment. "The fuck."
"The camera..." Yamamoto-soutaichou says slowly, both eyes wide in shock as he stares at the screen.
"I...it...it was overloaded by reiatsu," the green haired girl stutters, actually shaking now. "They're not meant to deal with more than...our last reading was...was f-four times captain-class!"
"Four times-" Komamura-taichou starts and then promptly looks sick.
"I think I need to sit down," Ukitake-taichou says faintly, going even more pale than he already was.
Renji would like to second this statement. He's not sure how much longer his knees will hold him up as he realizes the full extent of his old childhood friend's involvement with the criminal elements of their world.
Because once the Soul Society gets over the shock of the fact that it looks like some human kid defeated the largest threat they've ever known, they'll be coming for her and Kurosaki Ichigo, hard, and there's nothing Renji can do to stop them.
A/N: I think I liked this part a lot better the first time I wrote it, but I have no idea how to fix it. But yay, plot? And powers. Those are also important. Please comment!
Title: Jump Start
Summary: When Aizen is discovered to have been defeated by a group of exiles months after his defection, the Soul Society is understandably uneasy. They begin an investigation which eventually locates twenty years gone deserter Kuchiki Rukia, leaving Kuchiki Byakuya and the recently appointed captain of the Third Division, Abarai Renji, in an awkward situation. AU, Ichigo/Rukia.
Rating: Hard R
Warnings: Violence, nondescript sex, gratuitous Japanese, and spoilers for current arc in the manga.
Four hours after the new developments on Rukia's surveillance feed, the captains of the Soul Society have gathered once again to discuss the problem of Urahara Kisuke and his cohorts in the human world, and Renji is about to rip his hair out at their lackadaisical attitude. They seem more preoccupied with the recent disappearances in the Rukongai than the events in the human world, and while Renji understands that the disappearances are a problem, he can't help but feel Rukia's situation is more immediate. Unfortunately, he can't really say anything as he is not only one of the more junior captains, but he also ruffled more than a few feathers by ignoring the chain of command when bringing the new developments straight to Yamamoto-soutaichou. He can feel Kurotsuchi-taichou's piercing glare on him as he shifts impatiently from foot to foot and makes a mental note not to send any of his people anywhere remotely close to the Twelfth Division barracks any time soon.
"I see no point in making any move until we have more information," Komamura-taichou says once they finally get back on topic, yellow eyes narrowed at the picture of Rukia and Ishida on the screen in the Division One headquarters. "We didn't even know that these humans had spiritual power until today! They are probably all Urahara's people and who knows who this other group is?"
"They don't seem to be interested in the Soul Society, true," Kyouraku-taichou observes, throwing a worried glance at a sickly-looking Ukitake-taichou, who should have probably taken the day off.
"Yet," Soifon-taichou mutters rebelliously. "We should deal with them before they become a threat. Urahara and the other exiles too. This is getting ridiculous; we should have retrieved Kuchiki the second we found her instead of this farce."
Renji finds himself agreeing with the unpleasant Second Division captain, to his great surprise.
"Our best bet would probably be to go now then," Renji says, as politely and calmly as possible. "After all, they'r-"
"Oh, shut up, Abarai," Kurotsuchi-taichou says nastily. "You're not fooling anyone. Everyone knows that you're an old friend of Kuchiki's. You would do well to remember that your loyalty is to the Soul Society, not to her!"
"Excuse me?" Renji starts furiously, though at what he's not even sure himself.
"That's quite enough, Kurotsuchi," Yamamoto-soutaichou barks, slamming his cane loudly against the floor once. "You're out of line!"
Kurotsuchi-taichou scowls, but does not argue. Yamamoto-soutaichou turns to Renji and eyes him thoughtfully though, and Renji tries not to look suspicious.
"Technically, Kuchiki's associates are human..." Rangiku-san cuts in, crossing her arms over her ample chest. "And if they're being attacked by unknown assailants with spiritual power..."
Renji throws her a grateful look and she smiles back at him tightly.
"Our job is to jump in and rescue them?" Zaraki-taichou says with a laugh. "Don't be stupid. I'm all for a good fight, but that's not going to be the way it plays out."
"Are we really going to sit back and do nothing though?" Hitsugaya-taichou asks, looking bored and Renji guesses the only reason he's speaking up is for his former vice-captain's sake. "We've been doing surveillance for more than a month now and-"
There is a loud knock on the door that cuts him off and Renji immediately feels his heart jump into his throat. If something's happened...if Rukia's...
"Come in!" Yamamoto-soutaichou orders and the door opens, revealing the green-haired surveillance member.
"P-Please excuse my interruption," she gasps for breath, bending over in a low bow, clutching a small disk in both hands. "I...there's been another..."
"Speak up!" Yamamoto-soutaichou says, not particularly kindly and although the girl has always seemed like kind of a gossip, Renji finds himself feeling bad for her anyway.
"There's been another development..." she starts again, still out of breath. "You, really, really need to see this."
She looks so earnest and as she steps forward to place the disk inside its port after Yamamoto-soutaichou nods, Renji worries that the entire room can hear the loud thumping of his heart.
There's a blurriness of tree branches when the video starts, but the lens quickly clears to reveal the location as a forest at night. The camera dodges a flying branch and slithers forward in the air toward a clearing where the unmistakable sounds of battle are coming from.
"...n't want to fight you!" the big guy is saying in anguish, right arm transformed into some kind of weapon. He and the brown-haired girl are faced off against Rukia and Ishida, both of whom look more than a little worn.
"Fools," Rukia gasps, holding her side painfully. "Out of our way!"
"Why do you want to hurt Tsukishima-san?" the brown-haired girl asks, tears in her eyes. "How could you forget how much he's helped us?"
"You're not in your right mind, Inoue-san!" Ishida shouts and a blue light bursts forward from his arm, forming a bow.
"Ho," Kurotsuchi-taichou says in surprise. "A Quincy. That's something I haven't seen in a long time."
Renji neither knows nor cares what a Quincy is, but instead focuses on the pained look on Rukia's face and her weak grip on her already released zanpakutou.
"You should really give it up, Kuchiki-san, Ishida-kun," a man's voice says and a second later its owner emerges from a patch of trees. He's thin, pale, and Renji has never seen him before on camera, but by the furious looks on Rukia and Ishida's faces, they know him.
"Bastard," Rukia hisses, face contorted in fury. "Undo what you have done!"
"He hasn't done anything!" the karate girl runs out from behind the pale man, her fists surrounded by rings of fire. "Why are you acting like this?"
"Hurry it up, Tsukishima," another voice says from the trees and six more people emerge from the forest. Renji recognizes the pigtailed girl who attacked Rukia's roommate, but the rest of them are new faces. A small blond boy wearing a heavy coat, a teenager with a strange haircut, a tall dark skinned woman, a man with an eye patch, and the speaker, a man with a large sword and an eerie grin.
"It can't be!" Yamamoto-soutaichou says and Renji tears his eyes away from the screen to see the shocked look on the Head Commander's face.
"Is that..." Ukitake-taichou starts disbelievingly. "Ginjou?"
"Who's-" Renji starts, but Kyouraku-taichou shushes him.
"Ginjou-san, you're hurt!" the brown-haired girl says and she rushes forward, something flying from the hairpins pinned on her collar. It encircles the gash on Ginjou's arm in a yellow bubble and the wound disappears faster than any Kidou could ever manage.
"That's..." Unohana-taichou says with a frown. "...not a healing spell. Interesting."
"Inoue-san, don'-" Ishida starts, but cuts himself off and fires a blue bolt at Tsukishima, who easily dodges it and in an arc of blood, his sword makes contact with Ishida's shoulder.
"Ishi-" Rukia shouts as he falls, but then Ginjou slams her into the trunk of a nearby tree with only the air pressure from his blade.
"You..." Ishida gasps from the ground, glasses broken against a rock. "Why are you doing this?"
"You're not giving us any choice!" the karate girl shouts furiously, eyes bright with tears. "What is wrong with you?"
"Ah, the truth is they're just a little too smart for their own good," Ginjou says, sauntering over to Rukia and brings his foot down hard on her ribs.
Rukia gives a cry of pain and tries to swing her sword at him, but Ginjou kicks it out of her grasp.
"Shinigami, of course," he says scornfully, while Rukia jerks in pain on the ground.
Renji feels sick and helpless, wanting to lunge for the screen, to stop it, but knowing that there's nothing he can do. This has already happened.
"Hey, Ginjou, what are you doing?" the big guy says, rushing forward.
"Tsukishima!" Ginjou says, without talking his eyes off Rukia.
"You don't want to do that," Tsukishima says, moving forward lighting fast to grab his arm. "Don't you trust me, Sado-kun?"
"I-" Sado starts, looking between Ginjou and Rukia in confusion. "I don't-"
"Why are you hurting Kuchiki-san?" Inoue says and the karate girl looks uncertain as well.
"Ginjou..." the karate girl says slowly. "That's enough. Why are you...I don't underst-"
"Run!" Ishida gasps, struggling to move, but the dark skinned woman kicks him down again.
"Enough, the both of you!" the pigtailed girl says, looking horrified. "Let's just get Kurosaki and leave, okay? Wasn't that the plan?"
It starts to rain then, a soft pattering sound filling the room, water lightly streaking the lens of the camera.
"Calm down, Riruka," Ginjou says, running a hand back through his wet hair casually. "Just a bit of fun. But as much as I like beating down shinigami, you've got a point. Let's finish this. Tsukishima."
With a flick of Tsukishima's finger, Inoue, Sado, and the karate girl fall to the ground without a word.
"Hado no 88!" Rukia's voice comes weakly from her broken body on the ground. "Hiryuugeki-"
"Really?" Ginjou says contemptuously, lifting her up by the throat and cutting her off. "You people never give up, do you?"
"Scum," Rukia says hoarsely, blood dripping down her face from her forehead. "What do you want with Ichigo?"
"Yeah, that's a good question," someone else says. "What do you want with me?"
The camera swerves automatically at the sound of a new voice and Renji receives another shock as the orange haired kid steps into view from the trees.
"Put. Her. Down." the kid snarls, though it's not particularly impressive as he looks just about as threatening as a drowned rat.
"He has spiritual power too?" Hisagi-senpai says sharply, turning to the green haired girl. "I thought you said-"
"It didn't show up on any of our reading-"
"Silence!" Kuchiki-taichou says before Renji can and Renji turns back to the screen, trying to think back on every time he'd seen the reclusive kid and remember if he'd ever shown any signs of being anything other than an ordinary human.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Kurosaki Ichigo himself," Ginjou says, grinning manically, "We've spent a lot of time trying to get your attention, you know."
"You've got it," Kurosaki spits out, hands clenched into fists. "You Tsukishima?"
"That would be me actually," Tsukishima says and Kurosaki's expression turns even more furious.
"Fool," Rukia chokes weakly, still held immobile by Ginjou's hand around her small neck. "Why did you come here?"
Kurosaki ignores her.
"Leave them alone," he tells Tsukishima and Ginjou harshly. "You've got my fucking attention now."
Ginjou sighs. "This isn't really the way we wanted things to go, you know," he says casually, still holding Rukia adjacent to his body. "In the beginning we thought you'd join us. But then you had to be living with this shinigami whore. One of them."
He tightens his hold on Rukia's neck and she jerks helplessly in the air, hands coming up to clutch vainly at his fingers. Renji has to hold back a furious sound from spilling out of his throat and dig his nails so hard into the flesh of his palm that it begins to bleed. Oh, God, he doesn't want to see Rukia die on a surveillance tape in front of the rest of the Soul Society, he doesn't-he can't-
"Shit," Hitsugaya-taichou mutters under his breath in disgust. "What the hell is this?"
"HEY!" Kurosaki shouts, striding forward furiously. "Don't you touch her!"
His teeth are clenched together fiercely and Renji has to admire his bravery, even though he's clearly a complete moron.
"You leave her out of this!" he continues, voice cracking with suppressed emotion. "You want me? Fine! I'm here! But you don't touch my family, you don't touch my friends, and you don't touch her! Don't you dare, Rukia!" he says when Rukia tries to protest. "You won't step in front of me this time! You've got me now. I am right here!"
"Kurosaki..." Ishida gasps from the ground. "You idiot, wha-"
"Shut up, Ishida!" Kurosaki yells, shaking not with fear, not with cold from the rain, but from genuine rage and for the first time Renji can see why Rukia loves him.
Ginjou, Tsukishima, and the others look vaguely amused at his outburst, but the pigtailed girl, Riruka or something, looks stricken.
Ginjou drops Rukia into the mud without preamble and stalks towards Kurosaki.
"Pathetic," he says scornfully, resting his large sword on his shoulders. "You really used to be something, didn't you, Kurosaki? And now look at you. You're a sad sight without your powers. How long has it been now since you brought down Aizen Sousuke? Two years?"
"What?" Renji gasps, but no one hears him as the rest of the captains are busying expressing their own disbelief.
He reevaluates the kid for the dozenth time and thinks, no way, not him. Not this moody child.
"Two years, eight months, and four days," Kurosaki says viciously, rain water running down his face now and dripping off from his chin.
"Impossible," Soifon-taichou exclaims, dark eyes wide and incredulous. "That human defeated Aizen?"
"And your powers were the price," Ginjou laughs, shaking his head. "But you won't have to worry about that anymore. Not when we're done with you."
"Ginjou!" the pigtailed girl speaks up again. "You said we weren't going to kill him!"
"Yeah, well, he's pissing me off," Ginjou replies, the first sign of annoyance flickering across his face as he glares at Kurosaki. "Coming here without any sort of plan. Powerless and weak. Makes me sick."
"Oi, Ginjou..." the dark skinned woman says worriedly.
"Don't worry, Jackie," Tsukishima says matter of factly. "He won't remember this conversation."
The kid grits his teeth, but stands his ground, looking ridiculous in his soaked human clothes and bright hair.
"Fine then," he says, straightening his back and standing tall. "But leave my family and friends out of it!"
"Cute," Ginjou smirks lazily.
"Ginjou..." Riruka starts again, pleadingly.
"Shut up, if you don't want to be next, Riruka," Ginjou turns back to snap at her. "You're getting on my nerves."
"But-"
"Ichigo..." Rukia's voice comes faintly, muffled by earth. "What...are you doing, you fool. Run...away..." She tries to pick herself up off the ground and the determined look disappears from Kurosaki's face to be replaced by something like fear.
"Stay down, Rukia!" he shouts angrily, eyes wide and terrified.
"You are really such an...idiot," Rukia gasps, on her knees now and in a flash she's up and running at Kurosaki, leaving her sword behind in the mud.
"Wait!" Kurosaki and Riruka shout at the same time, but Ginjou's blade swings down without mercy and Rukia's left arm hits the ground with a splatter of blood.
Rukia stumbles, but does not fall and she reaches Kurosaki before Ginjou can strike again. There's a flash of white and then Kurosaki has a sword through his heart, Rukia's hand clenched tightly around the hilt.
Renji has just enough time to wonder if he has gone completely insane as he stares at the scene before him, before all the other captains shocked exclamations drown out everything else.
"Wha-" Kurosaki chokes, eyes dropping down to the sword through his chest in shock. Rukia sags against him, head hitting his chest. "You-"
"Here we go again..." she says faintly, barely audible over the sound of the rain. "I was hoping...Just a little more. But you will have to make due with-"
There's an explosion of mud and dirt around Kurosaki that splatters the lens of the camera and Rangiku-san actually lets out of squeak of shock. The dust clears to reveal a far more shocking scene, one that causes Renji's mouth to drop open. No way, no fucking way, this was impossi-
Kurosaki stands in shihakushou, a barely conscious Rukia in one hand and a sword even stupidly bigger than Ginjou's in the other. He looks just about as surprised as everyone else, both on camera and off, and for a moment, all of them stare at him.
Ginjou recovers first drawing his sword out to point it at Kurosaki quickly.
"Impossible," he gasps, eyes narrowed and posture stiffening as if he's readying himself for battle nonetheless. "There's no way...You may look like a shinigami, but one person's reiatsu isn't enough to-"
"Idiot," Ishida says coldly from the corner of the lens, pulling himself to his feet and Renji almost jumps. He'd forgotten he was even there. "We've all been pouring our reiatsu into that sword for months."
Blue energy forms a bow in his arms once again. "Go, Kurosaki!" he shouts, aiming for Tsukishima.
Kurosaki glances down worriedly at Rukia, blood and rain dripping down her short hair, and then a cold fury comes over his face as he looks back up at Ginjou.
"Ban," he says and Renji can almost feel the increase in reiatsu through the screen. "Kai."
There's another explosion of power and then the screen goes static again, leaving the entire room to stare silently at the grey and white mess.
"What?" Hitsugaya-taichou says eloquently after a moment. "The fuck."
"The camera..." Yamamoto-soutaichou says slowly, both eyes wide in shock as he stares at the screen.
"I...it...it was overloaded by reiatsu," the green haired girl stutters, actually shaking now. "They're not meant to deal with more than...our last reading was...was f-four times captain-class!"
"Four times-" Komamura-taichou starts and then promptly looks sick.
"I think I need to sit down," Ukitake-taichou says faintly, going even more pale than he already was.
Renji would like to second this statement. He's not sure how much longer his knees will hold him up as he realizes the full extent of his old childhood friend's involvement with the criminal elements of their world.
Because once the Soul Society gets over the shock of the fact that it looks like some human kid defeated the largest threat they've ever known, they'll be coming for her and Kurosaki Ichigo, hard, and there's nothing Renji can do to stop them.
A/N: I think I liked this part a lot better the first time I wrote it, but I have no idea how to fix it. But yay, plot? And powers. Those are also important. Please comment!