Fate (A Bleach Fanfiction)

Chapter 126: Rest Easy, Kuroki! Ishihara tells his story!

Ishihara's pov

I just couldn't believe how much of a fight Kuroki had put up while seriously still injured, she really gave us all a good scare when she pulled that last stunt. I was scared to lose her, much like Ichigo and the others. I found myself staring down at my unconscious best friend, who was hanging limply in her boyfriend's arms. She's always been the strong one, the one who got into fights and stood up for those who couldn't. It hurt to see her being targeted by someone we hardly even know, and on top of that, the fact that she has nearly died by his hands. What's worse is that Ichigo probably felt the whole fight, he is gonna be so angry when he finds us. When the others looked at me, I could tell that they all had their questions, which I barely had answers to myself. I didn't know that I had Soul reaper powers like the twins, until Kisuke told me that I did. He was the reason I managed to get here so quickly after they all left to fight Kariya. The one thing that made me curious and angry at the same time, was Mitsuo. I didn't understand why he kept going after Kuroki, but it seemed like she reminded him of someone important. At least that's what Rui has told me. Rukia kept me close so I wouldn't get lost, as we all made our way to the Squad 4 barracks. I've been in the Soul Society before, many times in fact, but I only ever stuck around Kuroki or Ichigo. Following them or Toshihiro around the Soul Society when they weren't busy with work, they usually didn't visit Squad 4's Captain often while I was here. After a few more minutes of walking, we ran into another soul reaper that seemed to know the group and Kuro very well. When she saw that Kuro was passed out in Renji's arms, bleeding profusely with horrible injuries, she panicked and rushed us to the hospital in their barracks. Kuroki was swiftly taken away from Renji, who panicked the minute they wheeled her away. It took both Rei and Yukio to hold him back from storming into the emergency room while they worked on her. Rukia was standing off to the side, trying to keep herself calm while Rui tried to comfort her. Toshihiro was standing quietly in the corner, concern written all over his face. I sat down quietly in one of the seats near the door to the hallway they rolled into, holding my head in my hands as I silently prayed that she would come out of there alive and healed. A thought crossed my mind when I realized that Ichigo was nowhere to be seen, just where is he?

"I.. I should have taken her back to the room the minute she first got there." Renji said, making me look at him confused. "Renji, this is not your fault... It's mine. You and Ichigo entrusted me to watch over her and instead I failed and she got out. Now she's even more injured than before. She wasn't even remotely healed from taking the full brunt of a Getsuga Tensho." Rui sighed, holding his gaze to the floor.

"What are you talking about? She took a Getsuga Tensho? Isn't that Ichigo's move? And what room? Why were you watching over her?" I asked.

"After you were injured in your fight against that bount, we got a lead on another one. So we left to check it out. Unfortunately, we got trapped in the cave and separated. While we were there, Toshihiro and Kuroki ran into Mitsuo. The two got into a huge battle and it drastically injured Kuroki." Rukia began explaining, "This gave Kana an opening so she took it and fought Mitsuo. When everyone finally reunited and went to find us, Kana was trying to kill Mitsuo. Ichigo tried to stop her, pleading her to back down. But instead, she didn't and Ichigo had use brute force and use his Getsuga Tensho to bring Kuroki back... He felt so guilty about it that it he made a drastic decision." Toshihiro explained, not looking up at me.

"When she woke up, we first had her at Kukaku's place, but around this time, we were all running around the Soul Society fighting off the bounts that got here. She took off before anyone to stop her and ended up passing out in front of some of the Captains. So Ichigo made a rash decision after finding out she left." Rei said.

"Rash decision?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"He basically barred her from the rest of the fights with the bounts and locked her in a room in Byakuya's barracks. He sent Renji and Rei to keep tabs on Mitsuo while Rui was to watch over her." Yukio stated, looking over to Rui. "They got into a really bad argument and when I had run an errand, Rukia had stopped by to visit her. The two of them were injured. But when Rukia was suddenly pulled away, she escaped. That's why she found Mitsuo and us." Rui sighed, rubbing his face in frustration. I sat silently, soaking up all the information they had just unloaded onto me. It became extremely silent between all of us, as I sat there worrying about Kuro and Ichigo.