Chapter 36: The past, the present and the future.
Chapter thirty six: The past, the present and the future.
''… Alright, don't let go.'' It took him a few more seconds to get Nemu to hold on tight enough onto him so she wouldn't fall, right now he had his hands full with his unconscious friend and holding the liquefied scientist with his other hand, so it was up to the woman to hold onto his waist.
He gave a short nod to himself once he was sure no one was going to fall and so he shifted his gaze towards the green liquid shaped with the shape of a sphere levitating on his hand, awaiting for the captured captain to give him towards his lab.
''Lead the way then, Kurotsuchi.'' Akihiko prompted the captain, closing his palm near the sphere to remind him of his position. A sudden thought occurred to him, realizing just now of the reason the scientist seemed to be stalling for time. ''If you are hoping to make enough time for that spiritual pressure to get here, then you can forget about it.''
His words made Nemu look up to him, she was still hanging onto him to the best of her abilities, and it appeared from her gaze that she was somewhat worried of what he could do after discovering what his captain had been plotting.
''You think I am…?'' Kurotsuchi started, his voice sounding far more confident than it had before. Unfortunately for him, the teenager was still in a bad mood, and he wasn't feeling like fooling around with someone he didn't particularly like.
''I don't think, I know.'' Kuromiya's eyes sparkled with that same familiar green spiritual pressure, the tattoo with the shape of his necklace matching that same pale glow with equal strength, erasing the shadows near them. ''I'm not near as naïve as you think I am, try another trick like that and I will kill you on the spot.''
''…'' There was no response delivered to his threats for a few seconds, and perhaps due to this Nemu who had remained silent throughout their exchange seemed to panic, fearing that his master was still underestimating the teenager far too much for their own good.
''You need to head towards the Twelfth Squad Barracks…'' Nemu started, surprising them both with her decision to go against what her captain wanted.
''Who gave you permission to talk, Nemu?'' Mayuri was the first one to make his surprise known, more than a little angered with her own invention going against his wishes, even if said wishes could have ended up in his death.
''I did.'' Akihiko interrupted, looking down towards the woman while giving her a quick nod to prompt her to continue. ''Go on, your captain seems to be too stubborn for his own good so his life is up to you.''
''… Head down north, about eighteen miles from here, near that area is situated the Research and Development Institute, you will find the lab there.''
''Thanks cutie, you won't regret it.'' And without another word the whole group vanished, a soft track of green light following their tracks, all the while Kuromiya made sure to keep his energy output low enough as to not be tracked.
. . .
Right under the Sokyoku's Hill, at the Secret Training Grounds.
''Is the fight over?'' The question lingered for a few seconds in the air, making the one who had asked it more than a little impatient. ''Hey! I asked you a question, Yoruichi!''
''There's no telling who won or who was there, the amount of reiatsu released around the area is too much for me to tell.'' Yoruichi replied while shrugging her shoulders, resting her back against the stone wall of one of the many rooms inside the Training Grounds. ''Relax and rest until you recover; that soul reaper kid you brought with you spent all these hours treating your wounds, so don't screw his work up, Ichigo.''
''You can't be serious!'' Ichigo replied back, though despite his words he seemed to know better than to move around with his recently treated injuries. ''You expect me to sit here when we don't know if they are alright? I can't do that!''
''I'm telling you to trust him, just like I'm doing.'' The dark skinned woman replied, crossing her arms across her chest while taking a look towards the exit door near them, which would lead towards the outskirts of the Sokyoku's Hill. ''You think I don't wanna go and help him too? Don't be so self-centered and waste his efforts… Besides, if you have enough time to complain then go and take a bath on the hot springs, it will help with the recovery of your wounds.''
''…'' Ichigo remained silent for a while, releasing a frustrated sigh once he managed to calm himself down. ''You are right, I'm sorry.''
With no more words exchanged between them and with the tension in the air still very much present, the orange haired teenager forced himself to stand up and followed the woman's advice, heading towards the hot springs to accelerate the healing of his wounds.
. . .
It took Ichigo a few minutes to get around the path leading to the hot springs, pained grunts escaping his lips whenever he went too fast for his current condition.
''Damn it all.'' He cursed, his usual frown appearing on his face while making his way to the hot springs. One might thing he was overreacting, but ultimately Ichigo had to ask himself:
What would have happened if Akihiko wasn't with them? He wouldn't have been in the condition to help his friends, and he couldn't stand that thought.
''What's with that grim look?'' The mocking tone of one of his teammates caught his attention, making him look towards the hot springs where Ganju seemed to be taking a rest. ''Did that soul reaper you fought beat your ass so bad you lost all your confidence?''
''I don't need your sassy comments, Ganju.'' Ichigo replied with an annoyed look, though he didn't seem truly angry with the man. Ichigo soon joined Ganju on the hot springs, not even bothering to remove the bandages from his wounds. ''Besides, he didn't beat me up, it was a draw.''
The moment his wounds touched the water Ichigo felt the pain fading away, the healing properties of the hot springs accelerating the healing of his wounds so much that it almost scared him.
''Sure it was.'' Ganju replied with an amused grin, deciding to head out of the hot springs, leaving Ichigo some time alone to clear his mind. ''It's gonna be dawn soon enough so I'll get some rest.''
''You do you.'' Ichigo waved the man off with a quick movement from his hand, not bothering to take another look at him. ''I'll be here if you need me.''
. . .
''We are here.'' Nemu announced, prompting the teenager who carried them to stop, his gaze taking a somewhat impressed look to the facility in front of them.
''Huh.'' He looked at the huge metal door in front of them, he could of course just take it down with brute force but that would attract too much attention, so it was up to Nemu or Mayuri to open it. ''Nemu, would you mind…?
''Just get me near the door, it will recognize my spiritual energy.'' To his surprise, it wasn't Nemu who decided to help him, but Mayuri, the same person who had remained awfully silent during their short trip towards his own personal lab.
''… Now you are helping us?'' Kuromiya shook his head in amusement, unsure on what to make of the man's actions. ''I just can't figure you out.''
''That's my line.'' Kurotsuchi replied, he himself had spent the whole trip attempting to figure out just what this unknown threat wanted from him, and much to his frustration he couldn't arrive at any sort of reasonable conclusion. ''Now do it before I change my mind.''
''Yeah, yeah.'' Kuromiya replied while following the captain's instructions, bringing the captain near the giant door and awaiting for some sort of reaction. ''Like this, right?''
His response came on the form of the metal door opening itself with almost no delay, no doubt recognizing the spiritual pressure that belonged to the one in charge in said barracks.
''Now then, don't touch a single thing and head onwards, down the main hall.'' Mayuri instructed, and for the sake of not delaying their conversation more than he needed, Akihiko decided to allow him to take charge for the moment. ''It's that room, you will need to get me near the door once again, that shouldn't be too hard for you, I assume?''
''You sure talk a lot of shit for someone that got his ass handed by a bunch of teenagers.'' Kuromiya noted, humming his answer while moving down the hall. Looking left and right, Akihiko did the exact opposite of what he was told and decided to push a few doors open, checking out the inside of a handful of them. ''I almost expected something a bit more… Eccentric? This whole facility looks a bit too normal for someone like you.''
''You know what I mean?'' He carried on, still talking to the scientist. ''No corpses, no deformed test subjects, no jars with unassuming and potentially dangerous objects stuffed inside them, that sort of thing.''
He finished, realizing that Kurotsuchi was probably more than a little careful with where he saved most of his important research subjects. If there truly was some sort of unethical experimentation going on in those rooms, he concluded that he wouldn't be able to find it unless the man himself decided to spill their location.
''There's only so much insults I can take, kid.'' Mayuri huffed back at him, sounding more than a bit irritated by his continual disobedience. Much to the teenager's surprise, the captain seemed to be restraining himself and holding his tongue for the moment. ''There's no place for concepts so simple minded such as 'eccentric' here, now stop talking and bring me near that door again.''
''Alright.'' Akihiko raised his head when reaching the final door on the end of the hall, approaching the entrance with a curious look and holding the still liquefied captain next to it. When the door opened up, it revealed a huge lab that looked far more like what he imagined Mayuri's lab would look like, filled with jars, weird probes and other unpleasant objects that one might find more suitable for a torture room. ''… Now this looks more like it!''
Once he entered while carrying the three others with him, the sound of the door smashing itself closed by itself reached their ears, though he was not the least bit worried by it.
''You wanted privacy? Now you have it.'' The captain declared, awaiting to be released from his trapped state on the intruder's palm. ''Now, what do you want, kid?''
''Mhm…'' Akihiko mused in response, dropping Ishida and Nemu to the ground with care, more so with Ishida who could wake up from the technique he had casted on him if he was too careless.
'Where I should start from, I wonder…?' He thought, and much to his relief the voice of his spirit reached him from inside his own mind.
[How about using that friend you knocked out as an example? He's a scientist after all, I doubt he will believe much of what we have to say unless we bring it down to a tangible example.] His spirit offered, deciding to leave his sassy comments for another time, much to his wielder's relief. [I do check on the door's inside your inner world quite regularly so I might even remember some stuff better than you, I can fill in some of the details if you are lost.]
[But do remember one thing, 'they' use those weird shadow abilities, so if you wanna keep this little chat private, I'd consider bringing a little bit of light on the place.]
'Thanks for the reminder.' He replied with a small smirk working his way onto his lips, it was quite helpful to have someone willing to lend him a helping hand from time to time. With the new info in mind, a quick plan was formulated to deal with that small problem, nodding to himself when he found it to be a reasonable solution.
'I might have an idea for that.' He replied back to his sword's spirit, focusing a considerable amount of reiatsu around the 'tattoo' around his neck, making the pattern turn into an actual physical necklace upon activating it.
The green light emitted from the necklace was enough to blind Nemu, and it would have blinded her captain if he even had times at the moment. This green light was more than sufficient to illuminate the whole room, although wasn't a full proof movement to get rid of the shadows, it still was the best he had at the moment.
''Well, sorry about that, I needed to get rid of some unwanted attention.'' He offered a vague explanation to the still blinded Nemu, who struggled to maintain her gaze fixated on him. ''You might want to consider creating a shadow proof room later, just in case.''
''… Shadow proof? What for?'' Mayuri replied, his mind starting to come up with several possible explanations for his vague advice, none of which he liked, not one bit.
''Yeah, I'll explain later.'' He waved at the captain with his free hand, still making sure to keep feeding his spiritual energy to his necklace to make the bright glow remain present. ''Now…''
''I'll start with a simple question first, then.'' Kuromiya announced, pointing towards his friend who still remained unconscious on the ground. ''What is he?''
The odd question might have taken someone else by surprise, the most common answer to it would probably be 'he's your friend' or something along those lines, but for a person such as Mayuri who never saw someone for something else than their value as test subjects, the answer couldn't be more obvious.
''He's a Quincy, of course.'' The captain finished for him, all of them focused on the still unconscious Ishida.
''Correct.'' The teenager replied, not even the least bit surprised the man he was talking to saw his friend as nothing else but the race he represented. ''You must be thinking 'what does he have to do with anything', am I right? And you will find that the answer to that is quite simple: Everything.''
''You must find it at least a bit interesting, right?'' He commented, smirking when the scientist grew quiet all of a sudden. If he had noticed what he was implying or not, but if he wasn't then his next few words would certainly be the nail in the coffin. ''What was the last time a Quincy of all things managed to get inside the Seireitei? Like… Near a thousand years ago, perhaps?''
''…'' For what could have easily been an entire minute, there was nothing but silence inside Kurotsuchi's lab.
''… This is not the first time I have told this to someone, but you sure are an unpleasant fellow.'' The words of the head of the Development and Research Institute didn't make themselves wait much longer, and despite his still incorporeal form, Kuromiya was certain the man was smirking at him. ''Fine kid, you have my attention now.''
''Do i?'' He tilted his head to the side, realizing that convincing the man would not be as hard as he had imagined it would be. His hate for the man in front of him aside, there was no doubt in his mind that his usefulness would far outweigh his personal dislike for the captain. ''I'm not quite done yet, so I'll be asking one more thing before we start discussing some finer details. Like, for instance…''
''… Does the name Yhwach ring any bells?''
End of chapter thirty six.
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