Two Souls, One Story

Chapter 29

Rukia hummed softly as she sat at her desk. She was doing the few pages of paperwork she was supposed to do, and blinked as her eyes glanced at the calendar. There were two on her desk, one for the date of the Seireitei, and the other for the World of the Living. "You know, Izuru, it's September 3rd... in the World of the Living."

"That's nice..." Izuru said absentmindedly. In his hands was a proposal to do classes at the academy. Lately, he'd been lamenting missing being a teacher, and had been reading books on various topics related to education. "What's the significance?"

"Well... I could be misremembering things," Rukia said, mentally dusting off the memories. "Doesn't Ulquiorra appear around now in the World of the Living?"

There was but the single crashing sound of Izuru's chair and in a flutter of flying papers. He was gone from sight.

Rukia sighed deeply and debated following him, but then the paperwork wouldn't get done. She knew he could handle himself. If anything, she felt pity for Ulquiorra.

No one is ever ready to meet their first fangirl, after all.

(linebreak)

Meanwhile, in the World of the Living, Ichigo was struggling. Chad was injured on the ground. Orihime's shield was broken... and the two... things in front of him, felt way out of his league.

"Yammy... finish disposing of the trash... we're wasting time," The pale-skinned man with teal tear stains commented, watching the fighting with the same energy level as watching paint dry in the rain. Pointless.

Frustration wavered Ichigo's stance. He... he should be better than this! He's done so much training!

Yammy grunted, growling slowly with the pain of his missing arm. He swung his sword up, reading to take out the insignificant insect in front of him. When something landed on his sword. Something heavy- too heavy. Bones were cracking as gravity pulled the sword and his arm back in a way that basic anatomy should prevent.

"Ahahahah!" The giant laughed eagerly. He looked at the blond Soul Reaper. "What luck! Someone actually worth my time!"

"Oh, ew... you're uglier in person... I almost want to execute you now, so I don't have to see you again," Izuru commented. He jumped off the sword and landed beside Ichigo. Brushing his blond hair away to get a better look at the teen. "You hurt, honey?"

Ichigo grunted, "I'm fine... The others..." He muttered, though he was bleeding, he was still standing. "What are you doing here? What's with your hair?"

Izuru hummed. He tried thinking of a reason but... Hey, Rukia wasn't here! Izuru was officially unsupervised. "Uh... Same reason I told you about a certain theme song stopping You-Know-Who? Except..." He turned to look at Ulquiorra and rested a hand on his hip. "Um... Well, I'll tell you when you're older."

Ichigo deadpanned and gave the Soul Reaper a weird look. "Honestly, Aniki, You act like I'm still 8 years old. I'm 16, for crying out loud! I know what you mean when you say you'll tell me when I'm older." He said gruffly, gripping his sword tightly as Yammy moved. The massive being was getting ready to use his legs to kick them to death.

Izuru did not look impressed. "Seriously?" Unsheathing and releasing Wabisuke, he shunpoed beside Yammy and rapidly tapped one of his ankles, sending him crashing into the earth until he was buried to the knee. "I'm talking, you big lug. I thought Aizen would have taught you all manners."

Izuru then shunpoed to stand before Ulquiorra, or rather, about an arm and sword length. "Nice to meet you. Kira Izuru of Squad 3! One of your bosses knows me on a personal level."

If this was supposed to make Ulquiorra react, it didn't work. "... Why are you in the way, weakling?"

"Please tell me more." Izuru replied with a wide grin. He leaned forward. "I'd love to hear the... details, on what makes me a weakling?"