The War Begins

Ichigo awoke from his slumber, feeling refreshed and alert. Thankfully, there had been no nightmares that night, but Ichigo was well aware that they would come again. Dressing quickly, he went out to the dining room for breakfast, taking note of the time from a nearby clock. Huh. It's after 10. They let me sleep in?

"You're awake?" Jinta asked with an unusual timidity to his tone. "Not feeling… homicidal?"

Ichigo blinked. "Not really… why?" Did you do anything?

Why would I? It doesn't make sense to try to kill your allies.

He did not do anything, Zangetsu confirmed.

"Well… Tessai sent me to wake you up at 8 for breakfast," Jinta explained. "But when I tried to nudge you awake, you nearly took my head off! Luckily for me, you seemed to aiming for someone taller than me, so your punch missed, but I wasn't gonna try anything after that!"

"Oh." Well, that's embarrassing. "Sorry. Ingrained instinct – my dad attacks me every morning as I wake up. And I didn't get much sleep the night before."

"Well, how'm I supposed to wake you up, then?"

Ichigo considered the question for a minute. "Slam the door. The sound should do it."

Jinta nodded. "Fine. Tessai had me keep breakfast warm for ya, so hurry up and eat. He's waiting for ya downstairs." He left with his usual swagger, apparently having regained his confidence after finding the reason behind the incident earlier.

Shaking his head, Ichigo ate breakfast swiftly. Just as he got up from the table, a wave of reiatsu washed over him. "Fuck!" He fled from the house, hearing Urahara and Tessai scramble for their monitoring stations.

"Ichigo!"

Hearing something coming at him at high speed, Ichigo spun in mid-air and caught what appeared to be an ear plug. But sensing Urahara's energy within it, the Vizard quickly realized what it was and stuck it into his left ear. "Can you hear me, Urahara?"

"Loud and clear, Ichigo-kun. There are multiple sources of Hell's reiatsu across the city, give me just a moment to analyze the data. I should be able to differentiate between the portals and the Togabito themselves."

"Gotcha." Ichigo landed on top of a tall building and reached out with his reiatsu sense, but the multiple directionality of Hell's reiatsu had him struggling to figure out the sources. Distantly, he heard the background noise of keyboard keys clacking rapidly before Urahara seemed to come to a conclusion.

"There are three Togabito. Locations: the graveyard, the hospital, and a park near your house. Your father's reiatsu is heading towards the park."

Ichigo frowned even as he began Shunpo-ing towards the graveyard. "The park? That wasn't on our list of spiritually active places."

"It should have been. Spirits of children tend to gravitate there and have for decades. Not to mention the occasional Hollow who uses the park as a hunting ground."

"Point." Ichigo arrived at the graveyard near his mother's grave and looked around cautiously, drawing Zangetsu. The Togabito was bound to be nearby. Luckily, it seemed the graveyard was empty at the moment.

The silence was eerie, but as each passing second heralded no sudden attack, no sound, nothing, Ichigo grew suspicious. Again, he stretched his spiritual awareness, but there was nothing. "Urahara? There's nothing here."

"That's strange… you're right, I'm no longer registering any presence from the Togabito."

Sheathing Zangetsu, Ichigo scowled. "Scouting parties, maybe? To see what sort of areas are the most spiritually aware in Karakura?"

"Perhaps. It seems that the Togabito arrived and about thirty seconds later using the same portal they entered from."

"He's testing us. Testing where we are, and our response times!" Ichigo snarled.

"I fear you are correct, Ichigo-kun. However, there is little we can do about it. Come on back, we have work to do."

"Fine." Damn it…!

Hell has experience with sieges, Zangetsu reminded. In any fight, it is important to test your opponent's defenses to discover their weaknesses. Especially when it costs him nothing for information.

… It still pisses me off. Grumbling, Ichigo Shunpo-ed back and prepared himself mentally for another day of grueling Bakudō training.

Sweat beaded on Renji's forehead as he struggled to maintain the Hadō 54: Haien. It was by far the highest level spell he'd ever tried before, but he really wanted to get this one right. It was a much more concentrated flame spell than Shakkahō, and while it was smaller there was a lot more destructive power behind it. But therein lay the problem: there was more power behind it, which meant that if it backfired that he'd had to deal with far worse than a blast of heat and smoke. Renji could seriously hurt himself if he lost control of it even for a few seconds. That fact was more than a bit distracting.

Rukia, in the meantime, was pulling double duty. She had manifested Sode no Shirayuki, training with her in the real world, but when Renji's control slipped, Rukia would come over and slowly guide it the Hadō back to stability.

They had decided to train by the lakeside once again, as it provided a convenient place for Renji to cast Hadō that were degrading too quickly to recover. The fact that it was pretty far in the wilderness and mostly unknown was also a very nice plus. The constant concentration was giving the redhead a very bad headache, and with a growl of mixed pain and exasperation Renji hurled the purple blast of fire into the lake, creating a spout of steam for several seconds.

"You alright, Renji?" Rukia called out.

"Yeah. Yeah, just need a few minutes," Renji replied, sitting down in the shade of a nearby tree. The relief from the sun was nice, and with the fire spell now gone, it allowed him to thoroughly enjoy the icy breezes that came from Rukia's sparring with her Zanpakutō.

Sode no Shirayuki gracefully deflected another of Rukia's slashes before jumping back and turning to her side, pointing her blade in Rukia's direction with a fully extended arm. Ice particles flew up from the ground around her, and Rukia's eyes widened, recognizing the attack. It was the first time that Shirayuki had deigned to use one of her Shikai attacks. "Tsugi no Mai: Hakūren!"

From the tip of Shirayuki's sword came an enormous wave of ice – too wide and too tall to avoid easily. Think! Rukia demanded of her brain. I need a barrier! A barrier for the…! And then she had an idea. Quickly, she leapt back and thrust the tip of her Zanpakutō into the ground, creating a wide ivory circle that began to emanate with cold. "Some no Mai: Tsukishirō!"

The pillar of ice came into existence just in time for Sode no Shirayuki's attack to hit, and Rukia hid behind the pillar while at the same time silently charging her left hand with Hadō 54: Haien. The attack ended a moment later, and Rukia dashed out, ready to inflict fiery pain unto her Zanpakutō, but the ice maiden was not there.

Sensing the cool presence of Shirayuki's reiatsu behind her, Rukia twisted to her left, barely avoiding a stab. She thrust her flame spell, trying to buy some time, but Sode no Shirayuki merely batted it away with her sword… before suddenly dispersing.

Rukia blinked, and then realized what had happened as she collapsed to her knees, only now noticing how low her reserves of reiryoku were. Damn it!

You did well, Rukia. I trust you now understand the defensive applications of Tsukishirō?

Yeah… It's useful as an impromptu barrier. I guess I'm getting better, if you're using our dances now.

Rukia received an impression of Shirayuki's smile, which warmed her heart. You are getting far better. Your Zanjutsu is much improved, and your footwork is cleaner as well. Your Kidō is becoming faster and stronger as well.

That made Rukia feel better. Alright. We'll pick up where we left off after I have a chance to recover some reiryoku.

Of course.

Renji's lips twitched upwards, watching Rukia wearily make her way to sit next to him. Watching she and Sode no Shirayuki go at it reminded him fondly of training with Zabimaru when they too were trying for Bankai. It would have been absolutely infuriating that he'd lost time and again against a baboon with a snake for a tail, over and over again, if Renji hadn't already known that Zabimaru was far more than a mere monkey.

The first time that Zabimaru had used Higa Zekkō, though… Renji shook his head in memory. He'd nearly died then and there; Renji had been unprepared for another attack, having thought that he'd won after breaking Zabimaru's blade. I should've known better, he thought idly, recalling those days of struggle, of fighting for domination and mastery that had led to the wars of desperation as he strove for the power to save Rukia. It was in the nature of most Zanpakutō to withhold their most dangerous, and sometimes self-damaging, techniques until their wielders were striving for Bankai.

Yes, Zabimaru confirmed. How else are we to ensure you survive long enough to grow strong?

Renji silently acknowledged the point. Without the experience of working with Zabimaru normally, learning their limitations and strengths in equal measure, Renji would not have been able to grow as a Shinigami. Higa Zekkō was truly a last resort, at least for Shikai, as it left Renji without a blade to fight with. Depriving Renji of that skill had forced him to figure out how to work around Zabimaru's limitations, making their bond even stronger.

"OI! Renji!"

Renji instantly came back to the present, feeling a mild throb in his right cheek. Quickly connecting the dots, he yelled in outrage, "What was that for?"

"You haven't responded to me for the last five minutes!" Rukia berated. "I was trying to tell you to get off your ass and back on Kidō practice!"

Renji sighed. "Fine." He held out his hand, ready for Rukia to once more use his power to create another Haien, but she shook her head in denial.

"No. Let's see how you've progressed. Create a Shakkahō without the incantation."

Nodding, Renji raised his hand and aimed at the water. "Hadō 31: Shakkahō!" The orb of red fire swirled into existence at the end of his hand, ready and waiting.

Rukia got up and inspected it carefully, using her eyes and spiritual sense to gauge how stable the spell was. "Much better," she finally deemed. "Not perfect, of course, but you've got a much better grasp of your reiryoku now. Fire the spell and then show me Sōkatsui."

Renji did as instructed and this time conjured the blue flames of Sōkatsui. Again, Rukia passed her judgment and Renji fired it into the lake, causing a burst of steam. "Good. You probably noticed we're primarily going over fire element spells."

"I did, yeah…"

"Flame spells are by design building off one another. Shakkahō is a simple explosive fireball. Sōkatsui is more powerful and can be fired as a wave. Haien is a compression of Shakkahō that requires power, control, and precision. I want you to get the hang of those three Hadō, which will cover a wide variety of situations where fire is needed. Once we're done with those, we'll move on to electric spells."

"Not to mention, you practicing these spells with me helps you better prepare for fighting Sode no Shirayuki," Renji observed pointedly.

Rukia only nodded. "Of course. Now, let's have some lunch, and then we'll have more Haien practice."

Chad sat on the roof of Karakura High School, pensively looking at the coin his Abuelo had given him long ago. "Duty," he whispered. He'd tried the previous night to activate the power, but in vain. It seemed as though the power was within reach, but at the same time it wasn't. There was something missing.

But what? he wondered. And why… why is the coin the key? Is it like Inoue and her hairclips? Chad nodded to himself. It made sense. Objects precious to us. Inoue's hairclips were given to her by her deceased brother, and my coin from Abuelo. Symbolic of the ones we love and treasure. And my arms… I treasure these arms that I can use to protect my friends. Without these arms, I could not fight.

Chad's eyebrows furrowed in thought unseen behind his shaggy hair. But what can a coin do? Will it change shape somehow? He got up and put the coin back around his neck, frustrated. What could be missing?

His instinct screamed a warning, and Chad hurled himself sideways, just in time to see a red eye-shaped portal open. With a thought, he activated both his arms to their full power, ready to once more fight in defense of others.

A woman stepped through – not the same woman as he'd talked to the day before, though. This one was tall and lithe, wearing a dark crimson leotard with ocean blue patterns that left little to the imagination. Dirty blond hair reached down to her neck but no further, lightly framing her face. Manacles with short chains adorned her wrists, but what caught Chad's attention were instead the glinting of her nails, which were quite long and looked quite pointy.

The woman looked around in wonder and took a deep breath as the portal closed. "Oh, gods, I've missed that. How long has it been since I could smell clean, fresh air that didn't stink with blood?"

"Who are you?"

The woman jumped, startled, and stared at Chad for a few moments. "You can see me?"

Chad merely nodded.

"Well then! My name is Akane. And unfortunately…" she let her chains rankle a little. "I am a Togabito. May I ask for your name?"

"Sado Yasutora. I'm human. Why are you here?"

Akane looked at Chad strangely for a second. "You know what a Togabito is?"

"Residents of Hell."

"So you do know. Then I imagine you can guess why I'm here."

"To invade. Hell has risen."

Akane nodded, looking distinctly of mixed feelings. "I can't say I'm not happy to be back in the living world after so long… but I don't want this world taken over, either. But I have no choice. These chains of the damned… Even now they tighten painfully, demanding I follow the orders of Hell. I'm sorry, Sado Yasutora. There's no chance you'll submit this spiritual area to me?"

"No."

"Then we must fight. I hope for your sake you can kill me."

"Before we do…" Chad interrupted. "What sin sent you to Hell?"

Akane sighed and smiled sorrowfully. "Murder. I was a slave for powerful men when I was alive. But I couldn't take it anymore – the degradation, the shaming, the jeers and leers and being made to feel less than human… I killed every last one of them, and ran. The satisfaction and sheer joy of finally being free of those bastards must've been what sent me under." She gestured at her outfit, at her barely-hidden breasts. "What cruelty death has… I'm forced into the same position I was in when I was alive: a slave, a toy for a powerful man. Please, Sado-san… I pray you kill me. Maybe this time I'll have repented enough to be free for the next life."

Chad bowed his head. "I hope so."

Akane's body stiffened, and she suddenly lunged at Chad, who blocked a furious swipe with his right arm. He was startled to see tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Sado-san! These chains! Hell is forcing my body to follow orders!" She leapt back, narrowly avoiding a punch to the gut from Chad's left arm.

"I'll set you free!" Chad swore, throwing himself into battle.

Inoue and her friends were eating lunch near the woods when she stiffened, sensing a very strange, unnatural reiatsu. And then… "Santen Kesshun!"

The golden shield appeared just in time to block a tentacle flying at them at high speed from the woods. "Oh?" a voice spoke from where the tentacle had come from as its owner stepped out. Though Inoue did not recognize him, it was Gūnjo – the blind Togabito that had helped Shūren. "You sensed me."

"Tatsuki, Mizuiro, Keigo. Go!" Ishida ordered, already standing up next to Inoue and drawing his bow. "Get as many people as you can back inside the school, now! Barricade the doors, block the windows! It looks like the Togabito are after the school first!"

"We're on it!" Tatsuki agreed, turning and sprinting off. Keigo was already running, while Mizuiro was not far behind, pulling out his phone and apparently typing something out.

"There are quite a few spiritually aware humans here…" G ūnjo mused aloud, letting the three of them run off. "No matter. I'll take care of the school after I deal with you two. Assuming of course, that my companion takes care of the resistance she finds there."

Inoue and Ishida spared each other a glance and nodded. They both could sense Chad fighting, but they could not go and aid him – this Togabito was too big a threat. "You have no chance," Ishida spoke calmly, with his eyes narrowed.

Gūnjo gave a small chuckle. "Even if you should kill me, I will only come back. You may win this battle, if you are lucky… but Hell will win the war."

"We'll see. I wonder if you can revive from a Quincy arrow, though?" Without further ado, Ishida promptly fired a volley of five arrows at the Togabito experimentally.

Gūnjo leapt over them and sent his tentacle-arms at his opponents, each of whom leaping to either side. However, Inoue was surprised when the one that was after her did not plow into the ground but instead made a sharp turn and continued to follow her. "Santen Kesshun!" Again, the golden barrier blocked the attack, and Inoue immediately faced towards Gūnjo, who was sending more tentacles at her from his body. "Kōten Zanshun!"

Tsubaki materialized the next instant, shooting himself into the fray, slicing appendages left and right as he twisted and turned to inflict maximum injury, but he wasn't making much progress – it seemed to be a stalemate between Gūnjo's tentacle regeneration and Tsubaki's speed.

"I hope you haven't forgotten about me." Ishida had leapt high in the air, directly above Gūnjo, his bow glowing bright. "Licht Regen."

"Tsubaki!" Inoue called the fairy back to her hairpins just in time for a storm of arrows to plunge into and around Gūnjo.

Ishida landed next to her a few moments later, and they watched the dust cloud die down, waiting to see the aftermath. "How many arrows was that?"

"1200," the Quincy replied after a moment. "Not my strongest arrows, of course – the air isn't very saturated with reishi and generating that many arrows quickly is difficult. But it should still be sufficient."

"I'm afraid not." The dust finally cleared and Gūnjo was revealed. He was bleeding from dozens of cuts, but he'd escaped the majority of the damage by materializing his Hell-binding chains and sacrificing a large number of tentacles. "You're going to have to try harder than that." He stood up straight, regenerating his appendages without effort. "Much harder."

Meanwhile, Kon stood protectively just outside the Kurosaki Clinic, right next to his body's father. Isshin had once again shed his mortal body, which was currently in the kitchen for safekeeping. Karin was hiding somewhere in the house. In front of them, a cloaked Togabito stood, apparently unwilling to make the first move. "Kon," Isshin began. "Take Karin…!"

"No," Kon interrupted, never looking more like Ichigo than he did in this instant. He was ready to fight, with the classic scowl on his face. "Karin is my family too. Ichigo gave me this body to protect her! You can't tell me not to! Besides, can't you sense it? Togabito are all over the city. The best way to protect Karin is to take down this guy quickly."

"Heh," Isshin chuckled. "Looks like Ichigo's rubbing off on you. Then I'm counting on you to back me up!" Drawing Engetsu, he lunged for the Togabito, who remained still. With a mighty stroke, he cleaved the Togabito in two. "Huh? That was too easy."

"Indeed it was." And then Isshin's body stiffened and froze in place. From out of the shadows of a nearby tree walked out the same Togabito, and with a gesture, the first one dissolved into chains and was promptly sucked into the Togabito's right sleeve. His right index finger was pointed right at Isshin's head.

"What did you just do?" Isshin demanded. "Why can't I move?"

"I just won." Using his free hand, the Togabito lowered the hood of his cloak, revealing a bald black man with a necklace of bones and chains. "It's useless," he spoke mockingly as Isshin struggle to break free from some illusory binding. "Now you are merely a puppet. Now then, little puppet… turn around and face your companion."

Against his will, Isshin turned around to face a stricken Kon. "Kon, I'm sorry for this, but you have to stop him!"

Kon nodded determinedly and dropped into a battle-ready stance.

The Togabito laughed heartily. "You cannot think it is that easy? I have full control of your companion. It was obvious that you would send the stronger of the two of you at me first. So tell me, Kon. I have nine other fingers. Can you evade all of them, defeat my puppet, and slay me? Ha! I think not! I may not be as strong as I was under Aizen-sama yet, but it is still arrogance to think you can stand against me, Zommari Rureaux!"

Ichigo leapt to his feet and high-tailed it out of the underground training room, calling Zangetsu to his hand with a thought. There was no mistaking it this time, Hell had well and truly invaded! He threw himself out the door and then was forced to Shunpo to the side to avoid a fireball aimed for him.

"I took your sisters in round one."

Ichigo spun and used Zangetsu to block a stream of fire that threatened to engulf him. "Getsuga Tenshō!" he cried, letting loose a crescent of his spiritual energy that cut through the fire… but the source was gone.

"You killed me in round two."

The Vizard turned to his side as his senses alerted him to his attacker's whereabouts, just in time to lock Zangetsu against a fire sword.

"Are you ready for round three?" Shūren asked with a wicked grin.

"What is your problem?" Ichigo demanded, generating a Getsuga through Zangetsu and using the enhancement to cleave through Shūren's blade. The Togabito leapt back and generated another immediately. "You failed! You're never getting free of Hell! I refuse to cut your chains!"

"Even if it means your town?" Shūren pointed out. "Hell sent me here. There will be no Kushānada to drag me back. And you cannot kill me without cutting these chains, or I will just come back. What will it be, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"I'll kill you again and again if I need, but you are not getting free!"

"Even if I offer to help you free your mother and sister?"

Ichigo froze. "What?"

Shūren smiled. "That's the deal. You cut my chains, set me free. I'll willingly return to Hell with you and use the pool to resurrect your family. Then you cut their chains and our business is concluded."

"What's stopping me from using the pool myself?" Ichigo asked with narrowed eyes.

"It took me many years to work out how. But even if you could figure it out, I guarantee you that the pool is guarded now by Hell's most trusted servants who know how to use the pool. I'll need you to keep them occupied while I resurrect your family, because I doubt you can do both at the same time."

Damn it. He's got a point.

Thinking about making a deal with the devil?

This could be their only way out!

Hey now, I'm not criticizing. Just be careful. He could betray you at any moment.

I think it unlikely you will receive a better offer. Kokūto was astonished that Shūren had worked out how to manipulate resurrection cycles, so it's likely Masaki and Yuzu would take a long time to be reborn after their death if you waited for them to do so naturally.

Ichigo nodded, having made his decision. "Fine. We have a deal."