𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒍𝒚 (𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒊) 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 »« 𝙱𝙻𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙷/ᴋɴʏ

xvi.

    "R-run! Fucking run!" The Shinigami who screamed is hurled into a wall, smashing through it and creating a large smokescreen. The Shinigami running through the path are knocked through the next wall by the force behind the Shinigami that had been hit.

  "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun! I-I reject!" Orihime's shout rings out before her attack flies towards five Shinigami. She frowns slightly when they easily bat him away, only for Tsubaki to hit the wall behind them. The Shinigami shout out curses as they are somewhat crushed by the debris.

  "You're a pacifist who can't even defend yourself properly without feeling awful." Orihime scowls at the memory of that stupid man and his correct assumption. Her hands ball up into fists as Tsubaki comes back in the form of one of her hairpin petals.

  "Inoue," Chad speaks up, standing behind the orange haired teenager. She glances back and forces a smile on her face.

  "Ah, Sado-kun! Finished already?" Orihime asks brightly before glancing at her shoulder when she feels a sudden weight.

  "You must get better at fighting against opponents, Orihime," Yoruichi berates, making Orihime's face twitch. She sighs quietly and presses a trembling hand to one of her hairpins.

  "Hurting people... is wrong. I..." Orihime opens and closes her mouth, struggling to find the words to defend herself.

  She has gotten better, with that Iwasa's horrible training, but she can't fight seriously. She won't. She doesn't want to hurt people! Not when... not when it would break her promise to Onīchan...

  "Inoue, fighting to protect is different from fighting to fight," Chad speaks up, agreeing with the cat, but reassuring his pacifist friend. "You'll figure it out. Ichigo wouldn't have taken you if he didn't think you were incapable of fighting."

  Orihime gives the tall teenager a watery smile before snapping her head up when she hears multiple shouts. She grabs Chad's wrist and starts running the opposite direction.

  "Let's go! Yoruichi-san says that Kuchiki-chan is in the big tower!" Orihime exclaims brightly, back to her bubbly and determined self.

  Fighting to protect... just like what she did when that one Hollow had attacked her, Tatsuki-chan, and Chizuru-chan. Orihime clenches her still trembling hands. She has to try... she has to try, for Kurosaki-kun and for Kuchiki-chan.

•••

    Ikkaku stares up at the ryoka who beat him, dressed his wounds, and stayed to gain information, watching that damned blank expression form as the ryoka processes what he had told him. It made his skin crawl and made his instincts scream. Such a blank expression didn't belong on the ryoka's face, Ikkaku could tell.

  Ikkaku keeps his own face blank as that damned smile flickers back into place on Kurosaki Ichigo's face. The mask is somehow worse. Ikkaku idly wonders why such a warrior hides his bloodlust beneath such a mask and a butterfly haori.

  "His name?" Kurosaki Ichigo asks, unsurprised and unmoved. His reiatsu crawls across Ikkaku's skin like thousands of rough leaves stinging him. Ikkaku can't even feel any worry or trepidation from the ryoka.

  "Zaraki Kenpachi."

•••

    Ikkaku doesn't even blink as the damned mad scientist blows a hole in his room in the 4th Division. He keeps his head turned towards the wall even as Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri chuckles.