What Time Leaves Behind

Ch.10 Keeping Secrets?

~~~~Third Person's P.O.V.~~~~

"Have you gotten rusty, Ichigo?" Rukia slightly gazes back towards the trapped Soul Reaper. Ichigo takes a second to understand what had unfolded right before him.

"...Rukia!" He uses his strength to kick the steel beams away before getting out of the pile of rubble.

Not giving them a chance to reconnect, Goethe throws more of his fire balls at the two. They split in different directions, dodging the attacks. "More, Goethe! Destroy them!" The Bount woman orders her doll.

"Destroy them? Alright."

"What kind of power is this?!" Rukia inquires as Goethe charges up an even stronger attack than before. He raises both his arms above his head as the heat grows greater than before. The fire ball is way larger than before. Rukia puts her hands together, ready to use Kido...but stops. "It's too big."

 Just as Goethe was about to throw his attack down, a bunch of snakes came flying out of nowhere and wrapped themselves up around him. They squeeze so tightly, they extinguish both the attack and Goethe in an instance. Each snake turns back into twisted metal pipes before hitting the ground below with a clanking sound.

"Ryo!" The woman seems displeases to see a new face interfere with her battle.

The well-dressed man, with a snake wrapped around his shoulders, simply ignores both Rukia and Ichigo as he strolls over to the Bount woman. He held a devious smile on his facial features, but there was no masking that terrifying aura of his. He was pissed.

"Ms. Yoshino... Roaming around without permission?"

"...Hey..." Ichigo addresses the man. "Are you a Bount too? What the hell was that about just now?"

That smile turns into disgust real fast. "A noisy one, aren't you?" The man glares at Ichigo as his pet hisses towards him as well.

Ririn hangs onto the young Soul Reaper's shoulder as she watches the newcomer. "Ichigo, be careful with this one."

"You know, food shouldn't talk back."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"..." The man redirects his attention back to the woman as his pet slides down his body. "Let's go home, shall we?" She places her hands together, ready to fight this guy. "I guess I have no choice. Fried!"

His pet snake, Fried, quickly slithers over to the woman and coils around her body. The Bount was now trapped, struggling to break free. "You will not disobey." The snake looked her in the eyes as it spoke.

"It's not use fighting it, you know how Fried is. My doll is a bit short-tempered, remember?" As the man spoke, his doll wraps around the woman's neck, alarming Ichigo.

"H-Hey! Aren't you two on the same side?!"

"Didn't I say you're being too noisy? You're giving me a headache!"

"Soul Reaper noisy!" Fried repeats for master.

Just then a nearby pipe transforms into a snake and attacks Ichigo. It, however, misses and strikes a cement wall, causing it to crumble as it turns back to its original form. The amount of destruction surprised the young boy. He faces the man once more.

"Just what the hell was that?! What are the Bount's abilities?!"

Ignoring him, the Bount man responds. "If you will excuse us now. After all, nobility and pigs never share the same table. Fried!" The doll brings the woman over to him.

"Wait!" Ichigo rushes towards them.

"Will you be silent!" Having enough, more snakes form and strike at the boy.

They wrap themselves around Ichigo and squeeze, trapping him. "D-Dammit!"

"Hado #31 Shakka-" The snakes slither over to Rukia too and coil around her legs, arms, and mouth. "Mhm!"

"You just won't learn, will you? Fine then, you want my attention, pigs, you got it." The Bount man snaps his fingers, and the snakes immediately wrap themselves around the two's necks. They begin tightening their grips, blocking the air ways. Rukia and Ichigo struggled to breathe while they tried to break free.

The man smirks as he watches. "There it is...silence."

"Silence, you say. I apologize then." A flash in the night, the blade strikes the man's side as his eyes widen. "For this is going to be loud." The force of the swing throws the man off his feet and through three concrete walls. Dust picks up in his direction, so it was unsure what kind of damage was done. But by the sound and sheer force of it...it was bad.

At the same time, the snakes drop to the ground around Ichigo and Rukia's feet, turning back to metal pipes.

"Emiko!"

The White Soul Reaper looks towards her brother with the most hatful glare to ever exist. "You're keeping secrets from me now, Ichigo? Why didn't you tell me about the Bounts?"

"..."

"If you're trying to protect me, knock it off. The deal was only in the Soul Society, not here. It's already been fulfilled. Starting today, I'm going back to protecting you."

"...I'm sorry."

"..."

"...Emi...ko." The young girl looks the Bount woman's way. She looked to be stunned, tears forming in her shaky eyes. "You kept the name..." She breaks into a little smile. "I'm so glad."