Chapter 29: What a turn of events


[The next day]

Ichigo walked along the street to get to school, still not sure on what Kon and Kurodo were talking about last night. It was a good thing he told Kon to head off before him and he'll just catch up later. It didn't make sense to him. What exactly does his father have to do with any of this? Top it all off, his fight with Shina ended unceremoniously when he felt that spiritual pressure, but when he got there, there was nothing. This was starting to get on Ichigo's nerves and he had to find out what was going on sooner or later.

"Hey Ichigo." The familiar and cheerful Orihime spoke up as she approached him.

Ichigo turned and gave a small smile as he saw the girl. "Hey Orihime. How have you been?"

She smiled to him. "I'm fine, just excited to get to know the new girl in our class." She took a thinking pose. "What was her name again?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes for a second before answering as he knew what new student she was talking about. "You mean Shina?"

Orihime snapped her finger in a eureka moment. "Yep. That's her. I wonder if she would be okay with coming over to my place for a little get together?"

Ichigo stiffened at that. Not really because of Orihime inviting Shina to her place, mostly just because he knows a get together at her place usually meant trying her off the wall cooking and that was somewhat torturous enough. It was the fact that Ichigo had nearly forgotten about her after last night. Closing his eyes, he reached out and sensed her faintly high into the air. Stopping in his tracks, causing Orihime to stop and turn back to him, he sighed before looking to the burnt orange haired girl.

"Orihime could you do me a favor." He asked her with a small smirk. She nodded. "Could you watch my body for me while I take care of something real quick?"

"Uhh," she hesitated for a bit before answering. "Sure thing Ichigo, but what if somebody sees?"

Ichigo chuckled a bit before leaving his body. He grabbed under the arms and quickly took himself to a back corner, Orihime right behind him all the way. Ichigo set himself down next to the wall.

"Don't worry." He reassured his friend. "I trust you Orihime." He said to her as he kissed her forehead, causing her face to go beet red and for her to nearly faint from that sign of affection and trust.

Ichigo shook his head and chuckled right before leaving the area in a shunpo, leaving the burnt orange haired girl in her daze. Without wasting much time, Ichigo appeared in front of Shina as she stood there with that big smile on her face. She was in the standard school uniform, sans the red ribbon, and had her zanpakuto sheathed and in her hand.

"I think it's time we talked Ichigo." She said all the while keeping that big toothed grin of hers.

"Oh." He started as he folded his arms and smirked to her. "And just why exactly should I listen to you after you attacked me last night?"

Shina continued to grin at him in a slightly unsettling way. To Ichigo, this woman was clearly something else. She was a soul reaper, that much he could slightly tell from her reiatsu, but she also felt like a hollow as well. That mask she showed him in their fight last night was no joke either. Despite her not fighting completely serious at the time, her strikes were nothing to slack off on. Ichigo still remembered how his arm felt every heavy vibration from the force she produced each time they clashed. It was an intense fight, one that he knew he could last just by sheer power alone, but probably not experience.

Shina turned around and began to leave, surprising the teen. "Come on Ichigo." She started as she turned her head, grin still on her face. "Unless you're afraid?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and proceeded to follow her. As they used shunpo to get to their destination faster, Ichigo had a very sinking feeling in his gut that this day was going to become very complicated.

[Vizard hideout, minutes later]

After a short amount of time, both Shina and Ichigo landed in a docking yard. Ichigo looked around for a brief moment as he had never been to this part of Karakura Town before. He was actually impressed at first, since something like this was never really a priority to him beforehand. Now, this was just another location he would need to remember just in case he ever needed to be here for any other reason.

"This way." Shina broke him from his thoughts as she walked on, Ichigo following behind.

They passed by several warehouses, all of various looks. Some were nearly destroyed, most rusted from one end, and only a few that looked decent enough to use. As they walked on, Ichigo could feel spirit energy of some sorts a little ways off from them. It was faint, almost impossible to detect, but there nonetheless. Shina stopped in front of one of the more dilapidated warehouse and stood there for a moment.

"Hanaka," Shina started. "Drop the barrier and let me in. I have him."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes for a moment before seeing a barrier of golden light appear visible to him. He smirked as he figured this was what he was sensing and watched as doorway opened up for them. Taking a breath, Ichigo followed her inside just as the barrier and the garage door closed, ensuring that he could not escape now.

"Oh joy, a trap I guess." Ichigo started in mild annoyance as he looked back to the closed door before feeling seven new reiatsu signatures above him. Turning quickly, Ichigo spotted all of them watching his every move, ready for an attack at a moments notice.

The first person he noticed was a fairly large woman wearing a lime green suit of sorts. She was holding her arms out for a brief moment as if she had just raised something up in the air and set it down. Her skin was slightly tanned and her short pink hair had some sort of symbol at the top that Ichigo couldn't see.

Below her was another girl in a school uniform and glasses. She was leaning on a pillar with a book in one hand as she eyed Ichigo heavily, never lessening her gaze and just waiting for some moment or another.

Next to her on the other side of the pillar in a crouching position was a short girl in a red track suit with the jacket opened up. Her dirty blond hair was in a pigtails and seemed spiky slightly from what Ichigo could see.

The next two were below them. One was a girl with bright green hair and a white outfit with orange accents and boots and gloves. She was leaning over a railing as she had a curious gaze on Ichigo. The woman next to her was leaned onto the rail with her arms folded under her impressive bust. She wore a gray tank top, beige baggy pants and combat boots. She also had on black gloves with a knife in one hand. Her shirt silver hair held back by a band to keep it from getting in her eyes.

The last two were on the second to last level. One with long, curly blond hair and wearing a black and white dress that went down to her calves. She held a knowing smile on her face as she eyed Ichigo with great curiosity. The last person was a woman in a light blue tracksuit and had her dark hair in an odd star shape. Ichigo couldn't get a good idea of her gaze because of the shades she was wearing, though he was wondering why wear shades in a semi dark room.

"So this is the male we've been hearing about?" The girl in the school uniform spoke up with a slight disgust in her voice. "I'm not impressed."

Ichigo raised a brow as he watched her turn towards her book to continue reading it. Was she underestimating him? Well, time to change that. Without even a second passing after she said that, Ichigo shunpoed to her and snatched her book from her hands before appearing back in the same spot as before. The girl reacted accordingly when she looked down to see Ichigo looking through her book. He raised a brow before looking back to her and noticing that she turned away in slight embarrassment.

"A yaoi? Really?" He asked as he closed the book.

The girl leapt down and quickly snatched the book from his grasp. She turned away and made her way back to her position, ignoring the jeering she heard from the curly blond and the star shaped brunet.

"Well that was slightly impressive." The one with the knife started as she leapt down to get a better look at Ichigo. "You seem tough. Care to prove that?"

She quickly got into a low stance as she held her knife in her right hand. Ichigo grabbed the handle to his blade and prepared for apparently another demonstration of his power to a mysterious group of women that most likely want his help for something.

"Now now, Kenko," Shina started as she placed her hand on the knife wielding woman's outstretched arm. "I didn't bring him here just for us to kill him. Relax."

The now named Kenko sighed in annoyance as she relaxed her stance and walked away. Ichigo also relaxed as he let his zanpakuto go and crossed his arms once more. "So why exactly have you brought me here anyway?"

Shina grinned at his question as she looked to him, causing him to narrow his eyes to her. "That's easy Ichigo. We want you to join us."

"Nope." He answered just as quickly as she raised a brow to how fast he gave his answer.

"No?"

"Yeah, no."

"Well you mind telling us why?" Shina's grin left her as she narrowed her eyes to the teen. She then noticed that he was entirely too calm right now.

"Cause I don't know any of you right now, obviously." Ichigo started as he shrugged his shoulders and looked to each individual. "I can tell that all of you possess a hollow, but their not as stable at all." He saw how everyone either narrowed or widened their eyes at his words, well except for the one with shades. He had no idea what she was doing. He continued as he looked at Shina. "I don't know what ya'll want my help for or why all of you are being pretty secretive about it, but I want no part of it. Now if you'll excuse me ladies, I should get back to school before I'm late. See ya."

He turned away and began to walk towards the barrier, hoping that his words actually helped him in the long run. Last thing he really needed was another female group making his life even more complicated than it already was. First was the soul reapers, then these Arrancar that Quorro told him about not too long ago, the Fullbring that he really should visit at some point this week, now these people. Things could literally not get any weirder for him at this point. At least that's what he hoped. Still needed to figure out what Kon and Kurodo were talking about his dad about.

"Wait." Shina started in a partially serious tone, causing the teen to stop in his tracks.

Ichigo turned to her and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Yes?" The sheer smugness in his tone rubbed a few of the girls the wrong way, but they held themselves for now.

Shina sighed and narrowed her eyes for a second. "Kisuke hasn't told you about us has she?" Ichigo shook his head, causing Shina to give an annoyed sigh. "Figures she wouldn't. Well, might as well get introductions out of the way now." Shina went over and stood in front of Ichigo. "My name is Shina Hirako, former captain of squad five."

That caught Ichigo by surprise as he raised a brow to her. "You were a soul reaper?"

Shina nodded. "We all were, until we had a little run in with a certain woman and her associates that changed us into what is called a Vizard."

"Vizard?" Ichigo asked with a raised brow.

"A soul reaper with hollow powers." Shina explained as she motioned him to follow her.

Ichigo shrugged as he decided he had nothing really to lose. They went over to a staircase as the others appeared around the teen. Ichigo couldn't really tell whether or not they would become hostile or not, so he remained vigilant just in case.

"And who exactly was the one who did this to all you then?" He asked, genuinely curious now.

"That bitch Aizen, that's who!" The short blond in the red track suit yelled out.

That was a name that Ichigo remembered hearing briefly before. It took him a second before he remembered that it was Quorro that told him a bit about her boss. If this Aizen woman was the one responsible for Shina and this groups condition and is the leader of the arrancar's like Quorro told him, then he would have to tread carefully if she had her sights on him.

"Calm down Hiyori." The school girl with the yaoi manga spoke in a bored tone.

"Can it Lisa!" The now named Hiyori yelled once more as she turned towards Lisa. "That bitch ruined our lives and even worse, those fucking soul reapers didn't do a damn thing about it!"

Ichigo perked when he heard that last statement. "What are you talking about?"

Hiyori didn't bother to answer him as she quickened her pace down the stairs. It didn't take long for the group to reach a familiar underground cavern. Ichigo scoffed a bit as he shook his head in near disbelief. Somehow he had a feeling that this warehouse was important enough to have a powerful barrier around it.

"Now then." Shina started as she drew her zanpakuto. The rest of the Vizards leapt back a safe distance from the two to watch what would happen next. Ichigo narrowed his eyes towards her. "Why don't ya show us all just what your hollow is like, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo sighed once more and shook his head in irritation. He drew his blade and held it toward the blond. "Somehow I'm not so surprised that this would end in a fight of sorts."


Still amazed at how popular this story still is after all this time. Just want to say, thank you to every person who thoroughly enjoys reading this fic, it is literally my most popular one here.

The next chapter will have the appearance of both Quorro and Yamma. Probably a fight there, haven't really figured how I structure this next chapter yet. We'll see I guess. Lol.

Ya'll stay safe out there, stay awesome, and as always...

PEACE!