"I told you, I don't need help with this!"
"Yeah right, and Soi Fon doesn't have sexual fantasies about Yoruichi whenever she goes to shower. Or whenever she breathes." I snorted as I kept dragging Ichigo to the Vizard hideout.
"You're such an emotional wreck that your hollow turned up in a goddamn training exercise. The only things that can solve that are either the help of these guys or a therapist and there isn't a therapist dumb enough to deal with your delinquent ass on this world."
This was so bothersome. I knew that Ichigo's current situation with his Hollow was... less than pleasant but I hadn't thought that it was bad enough that the pale twin of my dear delinquent friend would be acting up during training, that had never happened in canon. Was it because Ichigo didn't train that much when there wasn't a crisis going on or was it because of something I did?
...nah, there was no way this was my fault.
As we finally reached the hideout of the Visoreds, the old warehouse appeared before us as we passed the barrier. Hachi's barrier was all about hiding them rather than protecting them, though I recalled that the one in canon had been a physical one as well. They probably used it while fighting Hollowfied-Ichigo.
"Tatsuki, open the door."
"Why do I have to do it?" My beloved disciple asked with a frown as she eyed me suspiciously and I shrugged.
"Cause I don't trust this guy to not run away the moment I stop holding him." My logic seemed to satisfy Tatsuki, and infuriate Ichigo, so she walked ahead and opened the door.
And got slapped in the face with a sandal.
With a roar of rage, red scales grew over Tatsuki's body and she shot forward in a swirl of fire. Likely intending to kill Hiyori and put her out of Shinji's misery.
"Hello, unemployed people!" I declared grandly as I dragged Ichigo in with me and saluted the seven members of the Visoreds sitting on a mountain of debris.
"Who are you calling unemployed?!" Kensei yelled as he waved a fist at me, but I knew the musclebound brute was happy to see me after so long.
"So, we kinda need your help."
"I figured." Shinji said as he jumped from his spot at the top of the debris pile and touched down in front of me. "That's the only reason you or Urahara would seek us out."
"Harsh, but fair." I said with a nod before pulling Ichigo forward and put my arm around his shoulder. "This here is my beloved subordinate, Carrot-top Delinquent."
"That's not my name! And who would be your subordinate?!" Ichigo, finally free of my grip, attempted to reverse kick me in the head. As I had been expecting such a delinquent act from him, I already had moved away from the hit.
"I believe you can see how he got his name." I said with a smile. "Anyway, he has a inner Hollow problem and I need you guys to fix it."
"I'm fine!" Ichigo yelled with a scowl. "And even if I did have a problem, which I don't, how can these guys help me anyway?" He grumbled and I shared a grin with Shinji before gesturing to the Visoreds, except for Hiyori who was still fighting Tatsuki, and got their equivalent of smirks.
So they all put their hands on their foreheads and swiped them down, donning their Hollow masks.
"Did you figure out the how yet?" Shinji asked, his voice distorted by the mask but the tone made it clear that his cheshire grin was still on his face.
"H-How?!" Ichigo stuttered out, likely having some sort of world shattering revelation within his head along with a flashback to his battle with Byakuya. It kinda made me wonder what would happen if I were to show my mask but I dismissed that thought.
My work here was done anyway.
"Yeah, I'll be back tomorrow to take him back so go wild with him." I said as I raised my hand and generated a gravitational force to pull Tatsuki out of her spat with Hiyori and into my hand. "We're leaving now." And dragged the angry dragon lady out behind me.
"Come back here, you baldy!" Ignoring the loving cries of those who would miss me.
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"Five more minutes and I would have had her." Tatsuki said with a huff, back in her human for and still mad at me for interfering in her 'business'.
"Of course you would have." I said with a smile as I ruffled her hair, making her swat at my hands like a cat.
I wasn't really being condescending. Tatsuki was moving pretty damn fast back there and I could see her managing to get a win as long as Hiyori didn't use her mask. It was very impressive considering how little time she had been a part of our world.
But it still wasn't enough for the enemies we would be facing in the future. Let alone the Blood War that Yhwach was bringing, she wouldn't even survive against Aizen's Espadas.
I didn't like thinking about it but I would likely have to throw her and the others into some really life threatening battles in order to have them grow stronger. Even my current training method could only reproduce maybe about two tenths of a real battle, and that was over a long period of time. Maybe if I were to...
I paused mid-step.
Tatsuki nearly walked into my back. "What?"
I didn't answer.
There was something wrong. The amount of reishi in Karakura town might make it harder to sense compared to any other town in the world of living but I could feel a drastic change at the edge of my senses.
"I'll be right back." I said as I started running towards the place I was sensing, the ground beneath me disappearing as I gained speed, but when I reached it; there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Except for a pair of feet sticking out of a bush.
As I pushed the bush away, a scowl formed on my face at what I saw.
A man, one whose age I had no way to know as his skin was thin and wrinkly in a way that could not be healthy. His clothes were also at least three sizes too big on his frame so this was not natural.
I crouched beside the body.
No wounds, no blood, no torn flesh, no claw marks or any other sign of being brutalized by a Hollow. There was a chance that it was done by a Hollow with some special ability like Shrieker's goblin creatures but the air around didn't have the residue of a Hollow's reiatsu either.
Just what was this?
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