Chapter 17. A shadow's will

Ichitaro regained conscious as he slowly opened his eyes. It happened after a surprising `dream visit `from his dad, whilst unconscious by an unknown spirit energy. He sighed slowly but in a heavy breath, whilst holding his head. He could see he's on a same darkplace where he found a Hallow pass.

As he lifted his arm, he felt it in his right hand. He, then placed it in his pocket before anyone can recognised with. In his mind, he remembered what his father had said to him as he got up, carefully. He went back and saw his sisters were there - unconscious, except Renji. He seems beaten up and bruised, but showing no blood all over his body and face. His dark crimson eyes were half closed.

' What are they doing here?' he asked himself in annoyance. Firstly, he went to Yoshimura and gently poked her lower spine with his left foot.

' They're dead, already? That's an unusual twist.', he thought, but that showed some progress. She slowly woke up with a short amount of backache.

" Ouch!", she exclaimed as she lifted her upper body, " Next time, wake me up gently, instead of harshly!"

" Relax, ice princess. It's just a bump." he said with an emotiless joke.

" Whatever.", she checked on Rangiku, but she was knocked out cold., " That amount of spirit energy sure was powerful. It knocked her out pretty cold. "

" Yeah... Wait. You know that spirit energy? "

" Come on, you're not the only genius. I've heard Sado and Ichigo talked about it ."

Miraculously, he wasn't the only one knowing his secrets. If he gets home safely, there are unanswered questions that Ichigo could answer - whether he likes it or not.

Internally frustrated, he said to Yoshimura :

" Take Rangiku and let's go to Rukia. I'll drag Renji, since he's `dead `... No he's actually alive." Surprisingly, he did sensed his spirit energy.

" You're sensing his spirit energy?" she asked.

He nodded. " He sure wants to do something about me."

Yoshimura's powdered blue eyes widened with shock as crystal lights began twitching into darkness. They both looked around in case Jupiter was there. Yoshimura and Ichitaro were looking at each other's backs, trying to sense the intruder. Renji regained his strength and struggled to get back after an intensive fight, so he sat down. There he saw both of them, helping their unconscious sister and Yoshimura gave her a piggyback like a mother assisting her sleeping toddler. Behind them, there was a skeleton.

' Thank goodness if it wasn't for Zabimaru, I would have been a goner.That kid must've used his spirit energy to take it out while no one doesn't, but with what exactly? And that skeleton, wearing rags, seems to be one of our own...' Renji thought before he noticed the dimming lights were plunged into darkness.

" What is going on here?" he asked. Ichitaro could hear Renji's voice, despite he couldn't see him as a result of darkness. Then, the crystals turned red. Siren wailed so loud, it nearly punched through their eardrums. In which case, waking an unconscious Rangiku up.

" Ichitaro, can someone tell me why is it so dark in here?" she asked.

" INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" the sirens echoed from the room.

" Captain Kurotsuchi sure can make a hella security check." he said.

" Come on, we have to get out of here." Ichitaro said. He went towards him, grabbed his hand and assisted him to get up, despite having small amount of physical strength in his body.

Silence had chatches up to him before saying to him :

" Thanks for your help. "

" No problem. "

~~~~~~~

Meanwhile in Karakuda Town....

Neji's eyes were immediately opened and could feel a bucket of water nearly boiling as he stood back. They could see how terrified he was. Isshin quickly went towards him and asked :

" Did you find him?"

Neji nodded in answer and said :

" However, he wasn't alone. That....spirit energy.....its more powerful than a god. It must've disrupt my communication with him."

" Could it be a something else?"

" I don't know what it was. I'll investigate this matter."

Keitaro simply shook her head and said :

" No, I'll do it. Now that we found out Ichitaro is safe at the spirit world, we have to monitor his movements and see what mysterious entity was. "

" You mean, it could be an entity? " Isshin asked.

" We don't know if it is one. We have to be careful."

All of them agreed. Ichigo, silently goes out of Ichitaro's home and went somewhere. He picked up his phone from his pocket and dialled a certain number and someone answered his phone.

‹ Hey, Chad. ›

‹ Ichigo, still no luck on that kid? ›

‹ A Ray of hope that is. Apparently he's at the Soul society along with Rukia. I wish I could take him back, but I don't have any of my strength to do so.›

‹ Which is good news, right?›

‹ Yeah, it is. Anyway, is Uryuu and Orihime okay?›

‹ Yeah, they're okay. Uryuu sure does have more severe injury than Orihime and he had to stay and Orihime had been discharge from the hospital by her aunt.›

‹ Thanks, I'll meet you at Ginjo's place this afternoon.›

‹ Why the sudden change?›

‹ I think it's time. I have to get my powers back. After the incident with Karin and Yuzu... And Ginjo saving my ass there, I have to do something. I can't sit here while Ichitaro might be...›, he sighed, trying his best to never cry about it as he continued.,

‹ We'll talk later. ›

‹ Alright, I'll meet you there. ›

‹ Okay, see ya.›

Both of them hang up their phones and a cold breath drew out from his breath as he wrapped his head around and sighed. He clenched his fist and grunts in anger and frustration after imagine Ichitaro dying under Rukia's care. He simply went back to his house. It doesn't take long before his father peeped through the window and said to Neji :

" I have to go somewhere. I'll let you know if they're any progression to him."

" Okay.", Neji said as he got up to his feet while his wife assisted him to aid, " I'll talk to Sakura as well."

He got out of the house and Keitaro helped him towards the master bedroom. She helped him lay down on the bed and said :

" You know, Ichitaro is strong. He'll eventually find the last artefact for our people. If he succeed, he'll be back home safe. Don't despair yourself, my love. It's not good for you to waste your spirit energy as well."

" Yeah. I hope you're right." he said with a fading smile on his face. Keitaro noticed this and got confused.

" You seem..... Happy? "

" I am. Ichitaro had his first dark magic. Same thing happened to Tanjiro as well. "

" Except he only used fire magic. The girls are the only ones left. But we'll see them once they have magic of their own.", Her smile had appeared on her face too as she looked at him.," We'll see what their future holds. "

~~~~~~~~

Somewhere at the Soul society.....

As the atmosphere remained tense as they'd figured if Jupiter knew they're hiding place,

Byakuya and Mayuri went to check Rukia and Shikamaru where they could hear the alarms, wailing and giving cautions.

" INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" it cried.

Realising they're was no signs of him, Mayuri quickly went to the off switch and simply switched it off. The room was pitch black with a hint of lights in holes, by then he switches it on again and it constantly the red crystal lights were back on.

" ALL ALARM SYSTEM IS DISENGAGED! HAVE A LOVELY DAY!"

" What the hell was that?" Byakuya asked.

" It's the new alarm system I created, in case there's someone there." Mayuri answered.

" But there's no one here, captain. Maybe someone pull a prank on us." Shikamaru said.

" Mmmm. Something is wrong and I can feel it. " said Rukia.

Whilst everyone were looking around for Jupiter, Deki secretly activates a devastating power. He smirked as he thought, placing his hands on the ground, just like he did to Ichitaro along with Kakuzu, but differently:

' Got you now, soul reapers.'

[ DEMON ART : DARK FLAMES OF HELL ]

A devastating purple flames appeared from the ground like lava. The soul reapers could feel the heat on the floor and bravely leap towards a ceiling-like rocks. All of them felt the intensity from the heat.

" Someone's in here, but who?" Shikamaru said.

" We need something that can extinguished the flames."said Mayuri.

" And I know just one thing that could help. "

said Rukia as she lifted her Zanpakuto and chants :

[ DANCE : SODE NO SHIRAYUKI]

She held her zanpakuto out in front of her and turned it clockwise, turning it into snow white and her ribbon appeared behind its hilt. She pointed towards the flaming hot flames and spotted Deki inside the abandoned mine shaft. Dressed in a modern day black jeans, red printed shirt, a leather jacket and a cap. She leaped towards the flames as she unleashed her Zanpakuto's ability.

[ JUHAKU]

Rukia stabbed the flammable ground, creating an endless trials of ice from the ground towards Deki. The ice particles freezes him from his boots all the way to his entire body, unable to escape the deadliest beauty of Sode no shirayuki, transforming him into a pile of ice. Dusts and ashes began to piled up the entire mine shaft and rocks were coated with ice as well. Renji could see smokes everywhere.

" Is that.... Oh no, Rukia." he said in a panicking tone.

" Something wrong?" Ichitaro asked.

" We have to check up on them. She could be in danger somewhere."

They all went towards the exit, even though smoke `almost ` covered their tracks. Sooner or later, it slowly becomes clear thanks to the lights peeping through holes.

Mayuri, Byakuya and Shikamaru landed safely towards the glacier ground. They've seem to be impressed how strong she'd become.By darkness, Jupiter wasn't impressed by Deki's defeat.

" How pathetic these soul reaper are." he said quietly.

Byakuya could feel Jupiter's presence as tried to warn Rukia, but it was too little too late for him. Jupiter swung his hand and shadows were creeping in trapping Rukia's arms and legs from escaping. Jupiter appeared towards them and he too, captured them before could do anything.

Then, he tapped into a tree sized brick of ice, freeing Deki from freezing to death.

" All of you Soul reapers disgust me. One moment we tried to win, the next you used your spirit swords to win." he said, appeared from his shadow.

" Not all of us have zanpakuto, you weirdo!" Shikamaru protested.

" You know I'm not here to threatened anyone. I'm just here for the boy. The spirit demon. " He soon grew closer to them with a smirk on his face.

Renji and the triplets have arrived shortly.

" HEY, UGLY! WHY DON'T YOU PICK ONE N SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE?! "Renji shouted.

[ ROAR : ZABIMARU]

His zanpakuto turned into a hook- fan like whip and like a fisherman catches a fish using only his hook, he swung it and aimed it towards Jupiter. But it doesn't have an effect on him as he tilted his right side away from the target.

He pulled it back, but this time in full speed, sliced his shoulder in that same position. His blue blood splashes the group like paint . Renji and Ichitaro raced to free them, but it seems impossible. Until Ichitaro, miraculously touches the shadow with his hand and all of them were free. He seems pretty shocked as he looked at his hand again when he remembered how he picked up his phone.

Yoshimura grabbed his left hand and said :

" Stop daydreaming and let's get out of here."

" Oh right." he simply said.

Rangiku, on the other hand, packed Ichitaro's things, including the remaining zanpakutos. Jupiter, held his bleeding shoulder and chuckles in his own humour.

" You think you can defeat me, soul reaper? Think again. " he said.

Shockingly, Deki sees them escaping and went towards them by delivering Rukia a flying kick. She simply dodges his attacks and punched him right in his lower torso. Denki tried to follow them, but Mayuri stopped him at his tracks.

" OUT OF MY WAY, YOU CUNT! " he shouted. In a demonic speed, he went towards Mayuri and gave him an upper cut right to his chin. Gracefully, he float like a feather and chuckles as he landed on his feet perfectly.

" Let's dance, soul reaper." said Deki with a devious smile on his face.

" We'll see about that."

[ CLAW OUT : ASHISOGI JIZO]

Mayuri activate his zanpakuto into a golden sword, with a child-like creature along with five smaller lines in the middle, longer than the other. He took charge towards him and their brawl began. Ichitaro stopped for a moment and helped Rukia.

" Come on. Let's get out of here." he said.

He took her hand and tried to escape. Jupiter healed his wound on his shoulder with ease. Jupiter took out his crooked dagger and went straight to Ichitaro. Rukia pushed him away before he slash right in her stomach. Everyone could hear her long scream echoed through the mine. Ichitaro and Byakuya were stunned by Jupiter's action. He lost it as he activate his dark aura, but in his different voice.

[ DARK PULSE]

His fist glowed in darkness and punched Jupiter on his face so hard, one of his teeth are missing. Meanwhile she whimpered in pain after a devastating blow to the stomach. She held her stomach bleeding heavily. Renji and Byakuya tried to save her. Byakuya tore his sleeves and wrapped her around like a bandage.

Byakuya said to Renji :

" Go."

" Captain Kuchiki, let me stay here and we'll beat these guys together." he said.

" I know, Renji. These men are not fooling around and their spirit energy are stronger than yours. Promise me you'll protect Rukia."

Renji remained in silence until he simply said to him :

" I will protect them with all my life, Captain. That's my promise. "

Rukia looked at him as Renji grabbed her small body. Jupiter slowly got up and drew his bloody crooked dagger from his hand.

" Well, your death will be my destiny." he chuckles lightly as he looked at Ichitaro's emotionless expression. As he was aiming at him, Ichitaro dodges his attacks, making him angry.

" Hold still so I can kill you."

Ichitaro then smiled at him in a creepy manner and kicked him in his head and Jupiter saw something strange with his eyes.

However, Yoshimura dragged his hand before realising it. Renji went out and Shikamaru called on Ichitaro, Rangiku and Yoshimura to follow them as they were already out.

Jupiter, then glanced at Byakuya and Mayuri, whose battling with Denki. In his angry tone, he said :

" Ahh, Captain Kuchiki. Since you've brought your own company and let them getting away... I will not rest until the boy's blood is in my hands and free my father!"

" ENOUGH OF THIS MADNESS!! If you want these kids, you have to go through us first."

Byakuya said, grabbing his zanpakuto and faced it horizontally.

" Captain Kuchiki, you'll cause a serious damage towards the mine. It'll be too stupid to do so. "

" I have to, Captain Kurotsuchi. At least one of us will die and one of us will survive. No one fucks with my sister and get away with it."

Realising how insane it was, he tried to get away, but he grabbed his arm and unable to escape so easily.

[ SCATTER : SENBONZAKURA]

Byakuya's zanpakuto were transformed into thousands of cherry blossoms, scattering into pieces. It went straight on Jupiter, cutting his mask, his chest and abdomen with ease like a hot knife through butter, inflicting a seriously wound that will kill any no magical being such as humans.

His zanpakuto also slashes through dark rocks. These rocks were shaking into the ground reverberated and violently, hence no one could ever get out alive.