Instinct Released (Ichigo X Hichigo) EDITING

Chapter Twenty-Two

Worry infected the area as Renji quickly looked around his surroundings when the realization hit him that Rukia was gone. But what really tipped the boat over board was the sudden serge of spiritual pressure that paralyzed the Soul Reaper in pure fear. Not just the simple fact that his crush just disappeared out of thin air and a sudden power reeked the park, but the aura it gave off was....monstrous. The force of this sudden pressure didn't just halt his very movements, it went through his very soul as if going around his form was a bother. He could feel the coldness phase through his heart and lungs as if teasing that it could tear it apart if one beat was off. His intestines froze on the spot as soon as the energy entered his innards. There was nothing this immense force couldn't do as his interior become numb of feeling until the true void of darkness gripped his very essence. That was when his fear was recognized as the sheer power of this spiritual pressure gripped him tight in its grasp until he felt numb to his surroundings. Nothing mattered until the sudden surge of fire burned his skin and mind. The rage boiled his blood as his eyes dried up from the pure intensity.

"Renji....."

Hearing the soft yet strained voice behind the red head, he turned to see the fear Orihime was expressing. She could feel the anger the energy was giving off and couldn't help but nearly pee herself from the intensity. The rage wasn't just out of built up anger, it was murderous, and Renji knew what that entailed.

"Rukia." He mumbled before facing the source as fear consumed him. "RUKIA!!!"

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Something was wrong. Extremely wrong. The forest went silent. The wind ceased to exist. Any living insect was terminated. All sound was just gone.

Yet the cold lingered.

Not really finding myself in the mood to stick around, I picked up my pace. So my settle little walk became a full fledged sprint.

I admit normally this was the time to investigate but my combat pass wasn't at hand and for sound to suddenly just stop out of no where never is a good sign. If only Shiro stopped stealing my combat pass I would have a better chance at defending myself. Damn that albino.

After sprinting for quite a while, I suddenly realized that I passed by the same tree three times in a row by going in a straight line. Shaking it off, well trying to, I ran even faster thinking that it's just some coincidence or my mind is just playing tricks on me. But then the tree showed up again.

Going to a complete halt my irritation started to boil to its surface. All I could think about was who could possibly be messing with me as I walked up to the tree.

There wasn't even anything special about the trunk or the leaves. It just looked like a regular old tree that had shrubbery around its base.

Walking up close to the base, I scanned the branches from above to see if there was anyone there. Of course to my semi-relief no one was. But the feeling of some kind of presence never left. Whoever was following him was close. Too close.

Reverting my eyes to my surrounds, I kept my back to the tree as I looked for any sign of movement. Even any kind of sound to rid the unnerving silence. Just something to reassure me that all of the people who were following me were alright.

But where was the odd man out?

The energy from before was gone. In fact, everyone's spiritual energy was gone. Scary thing enough, they actually disappeared around the same time the sound around me vanished.